The International Celtic Congress is a cultural organisation that seeks to promote the Celtic languagues of the nations of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man. It was formed out of previously existing bodies that had sought to advance the same goals such as the Celtic Association and the Pan-Celtic Congress. There had even been two meetings of an Inter-Celtic Congress in 1838 and 1867.
It first met in 1917 at Birkenhead Eisteddfod and has met almost every year since then. There is a branch in each of the Celtic nations, although no Cornish branch was represented until the 1920s, despite having been involved in the Celtic Association from 1904. Each branch pursues the aims of the Congress in their own nation.
The organisation is a non-political organisation, although in the 1920s, the National Party of Scotland (the forerunner of the modern Scottish National Party) sought involvement, and the then Taoiseach of Ireland, Éamon de Valera consented to be a patron of the organisation in the 1930s.
Its stated object is to "... perpetuate the culture, ideals, and languages of the Celtic peoples, and to maintain an intellectual contact and close cooperation between the respective Celtic communities."
The Celtic Congress should not be confused with the similar organisation, the Celtic League which deals with political matters. Like the Celtic league, it tries to "hold... an annual international congress in one of the six Celtic countries, if possible according to a fixed rotation". The Celtic League itself, split off the Celtic Congress amiably, to pursue political aims, and many people are members of both.
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