The Celtic cross is older than christianity and has its origins with the Celtic people of Western Britain and Ireland. Like many other traditions and pagan symbols, christianity incorperated the cross into its own cross and many older christian crosses are richly decorated and this can be seen in old stone christian crosses throughout England and Ireland.
The celtic cross itself is extremely ancient and has its origins in Bronze age Europe though the word cross in English derives only indirectly from Latin crux via Old Irish and possibly Old Norse, introduced in the 10th century.
Celtic knots are a variety of knots and stylized graphical representations of knots used for decoration, adopted by the ancient Celts. These knots are most known for their adaptation for use in the ornamentation of Christian monuments and manuscripts. Today many people find these designs for crosses and knots very stylish and subsequently there is considerable demand for both Celtic Knot jewelry and Celtic Cross jewelry. Most of these jewelry designs date from around 450 A.D and can befound in many early Christian documents as decoration. They are mainly step patterns, spirals and key patterns and all can be made quite attractive in Celtic Knot Jewelry.
In popular Irish mythologyit is believed that the Celtic cross was introduced by St Patrick when he was converting teh Irish from paganism. Combining the original pagan cross with christian cross would have made conversion much easier.
In the Celtic regions of Ireland and Great Britain, many free-standing upright crosses (or high crosses) were erected by ealy christian monks from the 7th century. Many of these 'Celtic' crosses bear inscriptions in runes and surviving crosses can be found in Cornwall (famously St Piran's cross at Perranporth) and Wales, on the island of Iona and in the Hebrides, as well as the many in Ireland. Other stone crosses are found in the former Northumbria and Scotland, and further south in England, tend to be of Anglo-Saxon origin as they also have a history of cross making. The most famous standing crosses are the Cross of Kells, County Meath, Ireland; Ardboe Auld Cross, Ardboe, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland; the crosses at Monasterboice, County Louth, Ireland; and the Cross of the Scriptures, Clonmacnoise, Ireland. The Celtic crosses are often made of stone and quite often granite is the prevailing stone of the area so they have survived for well over a thousand years
In the Victorian era, the cross had a revival especially as funeral monuments and can be found in many municipal cemeteries in both England and Ireland. As a result of this revival and with Victorian funeral jewelry becoming fashionable, teh cross and knot became an emblem of Celtic identity. It didn't take much of a jump for this religious symbolism to become fashionable jewelry and Celtic Knot jewelry and Celtic knot rings being very popular today.
Most Celtic crosses and Celtic knots jewelry are made for individual use and many Americans use them as a symbol of tehir Irish roots. As well as in jewelry, they can be found in all walks of life from T-shirts to coffee cups and tattoos to key rings. Unfortunately one form of the Celtic cross was adopted by a prohibited neo-Nazi pary and subsequently Celtic crosses are banned under the law designed to prevent any revival of Nazism
Mail this post
