| The Celtic cross and Celtic Christianity is often a thing of beauty and also a bearer of pretty quite a few meanings. It resembles a standard Christian cross, having a circle drawn around the joints of the two arms of the cross. It's also generally referred to as the Irish Cross or the Cross of Iona (both an island along with a Gaelic name).
1 achievable meaning is that the cross is the unity of two varieties of belief systems. The cross symbolizes Christian faith, while the circle symbolizes an ancient pagan moon Goddess. This coincides with the Irish legend of St. Patrick introducing this icon when he converted the pagan people of the Emerald Isle. Some also say that the circle basically represents the Sun, another robust image in the pagan belief system.
Quite a few times the cross and circle style is only just component of the picture. Complex designs and carvings are prominent on Celtic crosses. One such popular motif is of an interweaving thread, actually interviewing figures of eight, which symbolize chaos, death, order and rebirth. As you can see, four again which is such an critical number with the Celts.
The symbol, in some form or another, really dates back long-long prior to Christianity. The reason is, that a Celtic cross has arms facing in four directions. This could mean the four elements, four navigational directions, and so on. The circle is but a different ancient symbol, associated with perfection, even the ancient Egyptians have used it.
Regretfully, in modern times this ancient symbol has been abused and utilized by some radical political parties. Normally they just simplify the cross and circle motif by just drawing a circle with a plus sign inside, extending outward (frequently referred to as the sun cross). The link between the symbol and radical factions have turn out to be so powerful that in Italy they've even banned it from being publicly shown in stadiums sometimes just Celtic jewellery. |
