Know About The Celtic Symbols Meanings
This article will discuss three Celtic Symbols that can give us a better idea of how the Celts thought: the skull, the cross, and the idea of a trinity. The Celts were very spiritual people. Much like the Native Americans of North America, they put a lot of emphasis on mother nature. They were polytheistic people for hundreds of years before other cultures introduced them to Christianity.
Highly spiritual cultures seem to put more symbolism into things than non-spiritual cultures do. The Celts had symbolism in just about every aspect of their lives. By learning about how cultures used symbolism we can also learn more about their history and culture.
The List of Celtic Symbols and Their Meanings:
The Skull
Many cultures think of the skull as some spooky omen of death. The last thing you want to do is see a skull in many cultures. However, the symbolism behind the skull is much more complicated than this. They do not simply see the gruesome aspects of the skull; they are not afraid to look deeper.
Just like the Celts were highly spiritual, prior also warrior people. It was not rare to find offerings to their gods. Sometimes, these offerings were the heads of captured soldiers. This can make the skull a symbol of ritual or religion. The Celts were also thought to believe that all of a man’s thoughts and power came from the head or skull.
They noticed that a man would die without his head, and they weren’t entirely wrong in thinking that the head gave a man all of his power because of it. The skull was said to be a symbol of creation, ideas, and power because of this. Of course, a head doesn’t turn into a skull overnight. Because of this, the skull is often seen as, not only a symbol of death but of time as well.
The Cross
For a long time, the Celts had a polytheistic religion, meaning they believed in more than one god. Eventually, some of the other European cultures taught the Celts about Christianity and many of the Celts converted. However, most of Europe had a tendency to kill anyone who wouldn’t convert, so it’s not likely that the Celts had much of a chance.
Of course, it is also likely that many of them converted on their own will as well. Even though the Celts adopted the sign of the cross, added some of their own knots to the cross to make it their own, making it known even today as the Celtic Cross.
The Celtic Cross stood for many things that the Christian Cross did: hope, love, faith, religion, unity, and the Celts added their own meanings as well, such as self, nature, wisdom, and God. Equality or balance was also a prominent theme in the Celtic Cross.
Trinity
Trinities, or important symbolic groups of three, can be found in nearly every culture. Different cultures have different things in their trinities though. Some of the important groups of three are the maiden, mother, and crone. Other trinities that are everywhere are past, present, and future; mother, father, and child; and heaven, hell, and earth.
There are many other trinities, but these are some of the most important. The Celts thought of three as a very important number, and because of this trinities were highly important to them. They thought of trinities of a sort of strength, protection, and wisdom, which could easily be a whole other trinity on its own.
These are just a few of the things that the Celts put symbolic meanings into. If you want to learn more about Celtic symbolic meanings, or symbolism, in general, then you can read more articles like this one here on zodiacsigns-horoscope.com.