Celtic Myths the Queen of Light and the Prince of Peace Art Drawings

Irish and Celtic symbols reflect aboriginal beliefs and traditions and were believed to influence lives. The meanings of symbols such every bit the Claddagh, Crann Bethadh, Triquetra, and Triskelion have lived on thanks to bards and storytellers maintaining historical pride and passing it from i generation to the next.

The Claddagh Band: A Tale of Honey and Fidelity

The Claddagh symbol has a triple meaning. The hands symbolize friendship, the crown symbolizes loyalty, and the heart symbolizes love which is not affected by time. The design of the Claddagh arose in an old fishing village of the aforementioned proper name that was one time located outside the walls of Galway. This symbol has been applied to many items, just one of the most popular is its use on rings. Claddagh rings, as they appear today, first became popular in the 17th century. Due to the meanings behind the symbols, these rings became associated with appointment and marriage.

Claddagh rings are one instance of the ancient Roman ring category called fede rings, shorthand for mani in fede which means 'hands joined in fidelity.' Like modern wedding rings , these were considered tangible symbols of promises of friendship or love.

• Enquiry Decodes Aboriginal Celtic Astronomy Symbols and Links them to Jungian Archetypes
• Is Celtic Birdlip Grave the Final Resting Place of Queen Boudicca?
• Celtic Myths on creation

The most popular legendary story of the outset Claddagh ring tells the tale of Richard Joyce and his patient lover, Margaret. Richard was a fisherman from Claddagh who was captured by Spanish pirates and sold into slavery in People's democratic republic of algeria. He was eventually sold to a Moorish goldsmith who saw his skills and helped him get a master goldsmith. Subsequently some fourth dimension, Richard was able to escape, or was set free, and returned to Ireland, where he was overwhelmed by the honey and fidelity of Margaret and thus presented her with the showtime Claddagh ring.

A gold Claddagh band. ( Royalcladdagh/CC BY SA 3.0 )

A Celtic Symbol for Irish Pride: The Harp

The Irish harp, also known as the Gaelic harp, Celtic harp, or Clarsach, is a bottom-known traditional symbol of Ireland. Information technology is believed to represent royalty and the immortality of the soul. In ancient times, bards and musicians used to play the harp for their chieftains and the tradition connected for later on kings. The harp on a green groundwork symbolizing Ireland first appeared in July 1642, furthering the link between the instrument and Irish people.

And that connectedness was cemented in the 1798 rebellion, when the Society of United Irishmen used a seal of an elaborate harp with two mottoes: "It is now strung and shall be heard" and "Equality."

Fifty-fifty today, the harp remains among the most popular Celtic instruments. It also appears on coins, uniforms, and on the Guinness beer logo.

Arms of Ireland. Type: Azure, a harp or stringed silverish. ( Public Domain )

The Shamrock: Ireland's Most Popular Symbol is a Celtic Symbol

The Shamrock is one of the near well-known symbols of Ireland. Although the ii are often confused or used interchangeably, shamrock are actually a species of the clover plant. The original Gaelic word seamróg, Anglicized to 'shamrock', really ways "young clover." As a plant, the shamrock grows on the hills of Ireland, and, as a symbol, it can be seen almost everywhere (whether as a existent shamrock or as another variation of clover) in Ireland likewise.

Legends say that at first the shamrock was used past Saint Patrick (the patron saint of Ireland) to explain the concept of the Holy Trinity to pagans while he was trying to spread Christianity in the land. Although the legitimacy of this story has been doubted , the tale lives on. Even so, the number three held significance for the Celts prior to Saint Patrick'due south arrival and the 3 petals of a shamrock were believed to exist filled with good luck. And that meaning is the one that has by and large lived on today.

St. Patrick depicted with shamrock in particular of stained drinking glass window in St. Republic of benin's Church, Wicklow, Republic of ireland. ( CC By-SA iii.0 de )

Meaning of the Celtic Cross

Another symbol related to religion is the Celtic Cross - also known as the Irish Cross, the Cross of Iona, or the High Cross. It is another symbol of Christianity in Ireland. This cross beginning emerged in Republic of ireland in the early on Middle Ages .

At that place are many unlike interpretations on what the Celtic Cross ways, such as knowledge, strength and compassion. The four arms on the cantankerous have been linked to the four primal directions, or the four elements (Earth, Air, Burn, and Water), or as a representation of our heed, soul, body, and center.

The ring surrounding the cross is believed to represent solar energy , which is regarded every bit a life source. Or it is said to symbolize endless love, which the Christians interpreted equally God's never-catastrophe love.

Celtic Brute Symbols: Horses, Serpents, Dragons, and Birds

Horses were extremely important animals for Celtic tribes . They were used for meat, milk, piece of work, send, hunting, and in battle. It was such a major part of Celtic life that horses were associated with the sun god – a being which often was depicted as a equus caballus with a human face. The Celtic equus caballus is besides a symbol of victory in war. The horse-mother goddess Epona , a favored deity for warriors, used to be known as the Great Mare. She was the just Celtic goddess that was worshiped within Roman borders.

Epona and her horses, from Köngen, Federal republic of germany, about 200 Ad. ( CC By ii.0 )

The Celtic Serpent is the symbol of rebirth, wisdom and healing as snakes shed their skin. The snake was also regarded as an immoral creature which came to life each yr wearing a new pare. The Celtic conventionalities was that snakes slithered up from the within of the earth. They also held all of the world's divine wisdom and they knew all secrets, thus existence regarded as Globe Healers.

The Celtic dragon was another creature of myth and fable. It was regarded equally a symbol of power and fertility. Originally, the dragon was said to have been created when the first living jail cell was born from the earth. This cell was and so fertilized by the heaven with water and current of air, thus producing the magical dragon associated with earth energies and the fertility of each season.

Celtic birds represented freedom and transcendence as birds can soar upwards into the heavens. They also symbolized the liberation of the human soul and were believed to bring messages, guidance, and prophecies from the gods to humans. In this way, birds were seen as mediators betwixt the human being globe and the world of the gods.

A Celtic helmet with a complete winged-bird crest. ( Wolfgang Sauber/CC Past SA 3.0 )

The Celtic Tree of Life and Other Significant Copse

Also known every bit the Crann Bethadh , the Celtic Tree of Life shows a tree with branches reaching out into the heaven and roots spreading out into the earth. Information technology represents oneness with nature, the link between heaven and earth, and harmony.

The Celtic tree of life was believed to have special powers and whenever a new settlement was being built, they would establish a Crann Bethadh at the center. This is the location where they would hold their of import events and ceremonies. Trees were likewise believed to be human ancestors and to provide a gateway betwixt the living and the expressionless and into other worlds.

The Celts had many tree symbols. Each type of tree had a sure symbolism and meaning to the ancient Celts. For case, the ash represented wisdom and surrender, while birch represented youth and renewal. But the almost sacred was the Oak , which represented the axis mundi , the center of the world.

An 1847 delineation of the Norse Yggdrasil (tree of life) every bit described in the Icelandic Prose Edda by Oluf Olufsen Bagge ( Public Domain )

Significance of the Triquetra, Tuim, and Triskelion

The famous Celtic spirals and knots reflect their belief in eternal life and in the complex relationship which humans take with the natural globe and the divine. The Triquetra is too known equally the Trinity Knot. It is the most mutual Celtic knot and when it is surrounded by a circle it reflects the unity and the trinity of the heart, the listen, and the soul. This symbol besides suggests three dissimilar but interlocked levels of the mental, spiritual, and physical or phases of time, equally in the past, present, and future. Finally, the Triquetra is a symbolic representation of triple deities, such as a lunar goddess called the Great Mother and the state of war goddess Morrigan.

The triquetra pattern on the embrace of a replica of the Book of Shadows. ( Public Domain )

The Tuim knot, on the other manus, symbolizes the four seasonal lunar holidays as well every bit the four traditional elements. The triple spiral represents the continuity of life and the mode in which life travels in cycles. The triple symbolism here represents torso, mind, and spirit or birth, decease, and rebirth.

The Triskelion, or Triple Spiral, is another popular Celtic triple symbol. Information technology has been depicted since at to the lowest degree Neolithic times and tin can be seen at the entrance of Newgrange in Ireland. As it is so onetime, scholars accept had difficulty in pinpointing exactly what it is meant to symbolize, but there are two main interpretations.

First, the appearance of energy spiraling out from the centre suggests it may represent movement or move, or action, cycles, progress, revolution, and contest. Secondly, the Triskelion could depict a specific cycle of events or relationships, such as life-death-rebirth, spirit-mind-body, mother-father-kid, by-present-future, power-intellect-love or creation-preservation-destruction. In general terms, some say the Triskelion is a symbol representing the unity of eternal life, spiritual growth, and the flow of nature.

• Exploring the Fiddling Known History of Celtic Warriors in Egypt
• The Forgotten Celtic History of Ancient Poland
• Examining the Rich Tomb of a Mysterious Celtic Princess

The Wheel of Being and the Ogham Alphabet

The Bicycle of Existence is too known equally the Wheel of Rest or the Five Fold symbol. It is made up of iv circles united past a fifth one in the center. It represents the four powers or elements which are balanced past a fifth one. This is a symbolic representation of the Druidic universe which consisted of four powers united by the 5th which stood for the residue of the universe. It also shows connection and unity.

The Irish Ogham Alphabet is regarded as a souvenir from the Celtic deity known as Ogmios who was honored as the god of eloquence. The real origins of this alphabet do, however, remain shrouded in mystery. Scholars tend to believe Ogham believe it dates back to roughly the 1st century Advertizing and think it was probably modelled off of Roman, Greek, or Runic script.

 It's believed that it was probably used to write Primitive Irish linguistic communication in secret communication, however, people's names too appear in prevalence, which some researchers believe ways it was used more frequently to bear witness ownership or to mark graves. Today, Ogham is preserved on stone, yet it is believed people probably used sticks, stakes, and trees more oftentimes as writing surfaces.

An Ogham stone with an added cantankerous symbol. ( Kevin Higgins/CC BY SA 2.0 )

Top Image: A Celtic Cantankerous, one of the more popular Celtic symbols in Republic of ireland. Source: NikaM /Adobe Stock

By Valda Roric

References:

Valda Roric – "Wonders of History and Mythology"

Valda Roric – "From History to Mystery"

T. G. East. Powell, "The Celts", Thames & Hudson, London, 2000

Arthur Cotterell, The Encyclopedia of Mythology – Norse, Classical, Celtic, Anness Publishing, London, 2014

pulliamthemand.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-ancient-traditions/irish-celtic-symbols-true-meanings-signs-pride-power-020916

Share this post