Celtic sociey was a hugely stratified society, and though it was well organised it was too partitioned. It was a society that held pomp and ceremony in very high esteem.

A system of fosterage was very highly valued by the society. At a very young age children would be fostered out to other families and would be raised by their foster parents. In many cases children grew up having very little ties with their blood families.

An example of this is 'Muime' and 'Aite' in old Irish. These words have developed into 'mathair' and 'athair' in new Irish, or mother and father. These child utterances actually translate into fostermother and fosterfather.

It seems therefore that they were regarded as real parents from an early age. Among the Gauls it was even considered a disgrace for a boy to sit in public within sight of his blood parents.

The Urnfield culture had the tradition of living in rectangular locations and rectangular houses. The Celts only really adopted this custom for its ritual sites. Their domestic or usual homes were in circular forms and contained within ring forts.

According to Polybios, a Greek writer living in 200 BC, Celts lived in open villages, had no permanence in buildings, slept in beds of straw and leaves, and viewed war and agriculture with great importance.

They were not however a sedantry culture but rather moved on when land became exhausted. As they built greater wealth they also had an increase in population.

They experienced better standards and a longer life. This put great pressure on land space. This prompted them to launch into an expansion on every front.

Halloween was a huge occasion for the Celts. At this time they opened up their ring forts so that people of this world could mingle with people of the other world. They also believed that the two worlds collided at this time, so it was perceived as a period of tension and possible danger.

Trade was very important to the Celts. From very early times the Celtic world was linked with distant regions as important long distance trade routes passed through France and Southern Germany.

The Alps ceased to be a barrier to trading and certain places on either side of the Alps became important reloading and transit stations.