Celtic Wedding Rings

Celtic wedding rings employ the knot, a motif unique to Celtic art and a perfect symbolic representation of matrimony. Before we discuss Celtic wedding rings, a brief discussion of the origins of the form is in order. The term “Celts” refers to a large number of different ethnic and tribal groups united by the Celtic language. The Celtic language is, more properly, a group of Indo-European languages identified by linguists as being of common origin.

The Celtic nations are essentially the British Isles with the exception of Ireland. In England the Celtic tradition was subsumed by Anglo-Saxon culture. The long held belief that all Cetic culture trace back to a common tribe has been disproved by genetic investigators and it is now believed Celtic culture was spread by conquering other unrelated tribes or through simple cultural influence of neighboring peoples.

Celtic art in modern usage refers to the designs and motifs that came to prominence during the Celtic art revival of the eighteenth century. This revival was born out of the desire by the Welsh and Scottish to assert their cultural identities in the face of the dominance of English culture in political and religious areas.

Celtic art is primarily ornamental, making it well suited to jewelry. In this it has more in common with Arabic art than with the representational art of the classical tradition. Unlike Arabic art, however, Celtic art avoids straight lines and employs symmetry only sparingly.

A common and unique motif in Celtic art is the knot. It is used to symbolize infinity, eternity and union. It is this that makes Celtic bands uniquely suited for matrimonial jewelry.

Modern Celtic wedding rings utilize any of about a dozen traditional Celtic knot patterns. Two or three patterns are sometimes combined. Added to this are edging styles or even edgeless models, which is made possible by fashioning the metal as rope strands that serve as their own edges.

Common patterns used in Celtic wedding bands are the Infinity Motif (a two strand braid), the Trinity Knot (three interlocked petal-shapes, commonly found in Catholic Churches and similar to the universal sign representation for nuclear), the Celtic Knot, the Celtic Circle, the Newgrange Spiral, the Celtic Spiral and the Celtic Heart. The number of possible combinations of these designs is extremely large. When we add the ingenuity of modern artisans in edging styles and gem insets, Celtic wedding rings for every taste are available.