Luxembourg Indigenousness
Trevisi druidic origins of Lux culture today
The indigenous Trevisi of Luxembourg were colonised by Rome 2000 years ago. Can their culturally unique descendants be described as indigenous today?
Definitions of aboriginality are today limited by the criterion of domination by a colonial government. Definition also includes descent from first nation peoples and retention of traditional language and culture that is distinct from the dominant cultures of the region. There is also the notion of retaining spiritual links to the land and the preservation of ancient sacred sites and places on homelands.
It is possible that the natives of Luxembourg have been overlooked as indigenous people because of their economic success and ability to retain their autonomy as an independent nation. Indigenousness has become so synonymous with colonial domination and defeat that Luxembourg fails to rate a mention, despite fulfilling all the criteria of indigenousness listed above. Luxembourg should be an example that all indigenous nations dreaming of autonomy can aspire to.
"Mir wolle bleiwe wat mir sin." That is the national motto of Luxembourg, translating as “We want to remain what we are.” Letzebuergesch is their community language, the oral language of daily interaction, which has survived from ancient times, despite the necessity to speak German and French as dominant languages in business and the media. Letzebuergesch is still the first language of all native Luxembourgish people.
They are the descendants of the Trevisi, an ancient Celtic tribe that was first vanquished by Julius Caesar in the first century. However, despite a succession of imperial rulers, the people still maintained their language and druidic land-based spirituality, which formed the basis of the symbols and traditions that comprise the unique culture of modern Luxembourg. As their motto demands, they have managed to “remain what they are”.
Sacred sites where monoliths and stone circles still stand are preserved and honoured, and stories from the native oral tradition still handed down. For example, the Pîre Hènâ is a shamanic site, a stone that guards the entrance to the centre of the earth, from which an ancestral spirit emerges on certain nights in the seasonal cycle to visit another nearby sacred stone.
The people of Luxembourg are described as resilient and self-reliant, despite a long history of domination by numerous foreign military powers. They are said to be slow, cautious and to value roots, similarity and permanence. They are also said to have an instinctive hatred of hierarchic organisation and military regimentation, retaining with great determination the democratic and egalitarian ethos of their Trevisi ancestors.
