Many people throughout the world find the symbols and meanings of Celtic jewelry designs fascinating and love to collect gold or silver celtic knot jewelry. There are many lovely pieces of jewelry depicting Celtic knots and other celtic designs and it can be fascinating collecting jewelry with either a particular type of design, for instance trinity knots or a collection including all designs and styles. It can give more meaning to your collection if you know something about the history and legends of the Celtic people who used these designs in their everyday life and on their jewelry and everyday objects. Although meanings of Celtic knot designs are, in general, lost to us nevertheless a great deal is known about the history if the Celtic people.

The period of the history of the Celts dating from around 600 AD. in Great Britain after the Roman Era, known as the Insular Art period, saw an explosion of jewelry crafting and design. Artisans used precious metals to make many intricately designed pieces decorated with the well known Celtic knots but also spirals and animal symbols. In addition to jewelry, illustrated manuscripts were produced the most famous of which is the Book of Kells. Stone crosses were carved with the Celtic symbols and could be seen throughout the British Isles, in Ireleland, Scotland and Wales.

Designers of Celtic Knot jewelry today are inspired by the objects that were produced during this period taking their inspiration from the illustrated texts, relics and stone crosses still seen around the land today. Irish craftsmen are skilled in making fine jewelry in gold and silver bearing the intricate designs so loved by the Celts in the past. They decorate their designs with the intricate knotwork seen in these ancient relics.

The original meanings of many of the designs have been lost to us and many meanings have been made up by modern people so finding out the original meaning of manay of the designs is difficult and in many cases impossible. However historians can agree on a few things about the celtic knot designs. The intricate knots represent how all things are inter-connected and also represents God’s eternal love. The Book of Kells is richly illustrated in bold colours with Celtic knots. The Celtic knot is perhaps, the best known and most widely loved Celtic symbol and is a feature of many pieces of fine jewelry including rings, wedding bands, pendants and crosses.

Trinity knots, or triquetra are frequently seen in objects from the Insular Art period especially in illustrated texts such as the book of Kells and in metal work. It was usually used in combination with other knots and was often used as a space filler rather than a stand alone design. In recent times the triquetra has become a Christian symbol representing the Holy Trinity or as a symbol of special threefold things such as Grandmother, Daughhter and Granddaughter.

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