The Story of the Celtic Cross (symbolism and meaning)

The Celtic Cross has been a symbol of both culture and faith for more than 1,500 years and probably far longer than that.

The true origins of the Celtic Cross are unknown but there are many theories.

In this video we examine the origins of the cross and chart its story from pre-Christian times to the modern day.

It may have begun as a pagan symbol but it was championed by Christianity in the form of the High Crosses around Ireland and in illuminated manuscripts.

The majority of people who use the Celtic cross symbol now are Christian but many people also wear Celtic cross pendants as a symbol of their Irish (or Scottish or Welsh) heritage.

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[TheLenaweeTrekker]

Thank You, for the video. I have wonder of the celtic cross origins.

[mondayschild]

The circle around the cross is most likely a ceremonial girdle/robe-cord like the Egyptian ankh if you look at the window of the Monastery of San Antón

Castrojeriz, Spain it's made up of lots of hermits girdles with Tau crosses in the centre of them with the ends of the girdles hanging down to make a pattern. Jan van Eyck painting "man with pinks" is wearing the the St Anthony of Egypt order around his neck, like the ankh. Stonehenge looks like it is made up of lots of tau crosses in a circle.
The order of the Garter is a circular girdle belt with St Georges cross in the centre also

[MapleSyrupPoet]

Very good ...I used to wear one ...quite a long time...cherished it 💚

[TheInkPitOx]

I got a Celtic cross in Ireland many years ago. We put it on the coffee table every St. Patricks Day.

[OSTARAEB]

It is what you identify it to be. I’ve heard each quadrant represents Ireland’s Four Provinces or Four Green Fields. I’ve also heard it represents the Circle of Life entwined with Christ as the continuity of life with no beginning and no end representing eternity. I have three of them two of which were very expensive. One is the cross of Clonmacnoise Monastery. The other is also heavy and unique with etched symbols of Irish history into the cross. I am of Irish ancestry on both sides and Catholic and Protestant. For me, I started wearing one with connection to Irish paganism and identifying with my ancestry. I’m not religious but I feel it gives me protection in that I am of God and protects over me. It represents my respect for Ireland 🇮🇪 and her ancient past and her tragic history of conquest and independence and what my ancestors endured with having their religion, native language and existence nearly wiped out through colonialism. My Celtic Crosses connect me even though Irish people don’t consider her Diaspora children Irish. It also represents our Voyage to 🇺🇸. That’s just this reporter’s opinion.

[noyes]

thank you for the video! can you tell me the name of the background music you are using? it´s really beautiful

[eoghainoneill]

Today media Australia have been calling it racist etc.Prison guards are actually told to look out for tattoos of this cross in connection to radicals/terror groups etc.Ourworld is going crazy.

[Camelotsmoon]

It represents the energy body. It's a 2d representation. If you look down from the top of the head you'd see the 4 major points going from front back, left right, then the 4 minor points is the ring.. the bottom part of the cross just represents it going all the way down. The Celtic cross variant is probably the most accurate cross. Jesus was depicted having a golden aura around his head, and his head was exactly in the middle of the cross during crucifixion. It's not exclusive to just Jesus, but the clues are there, they're just buried in dogma.

The star of David is also a neat one, it's a 2d version of the merkaba (vehicle of light). It's why Jews put the symbol on people's graves, to remind the dead of their light vehicles; more than likely how the Jewish people came to earth as well in... But that I don't know for sure; other people's could've come by that as well, probably most of us.

[Croucher]

Would it be bad to get a tattoo of a Celtic cross? I wanna get it but don’t know if I should

[randallshulsen]

Geometric and mathematical equations relating to the sun cycles and other sun science.

[abrahamdozer]

Those swirly triskelions you show from Newgrange were there as much as 2, 000 years before there were Celts or Druids anywhere including Ireland. They are Neolithic and pre-Bell Beaker.

[stephen]

- it represents the four seasons a.k.a the sun (the circle)- the winter and summer solstice bottom and top, the spring easter and fall harvest equinox's right and left - AS PAGAN AS IT GETS - long before christianity came along they were keenly aware of the change in attitude ( max. height) the sun reached in the sky each day- like when the sun stopped getting lower and started getting higher in the sky each day(dec 25), and then when it started dropping again (june 21) - this symbol predates christianity - it was co-opted like just about everything else, do you have any idea how many supposed saviors born of a virgin on dec 25 there are in man's history? and of course each culture says our savior is the real messiah - google for yourself - horus, dionysus, mithra, hercules, hermes,

[MarkLabadie-hv]

I have a Celtic cross tattoo. Circle in middle with yin/yang. Gold crown with emeralds perched atop. Earth and sky motif background.

[themanicmechanics]

Keltoi is the Greek word for barbarian. What we are calling druids have nothing to do with the ancient burial stone from Newgrange depicted here, it is many centuries older than the earliest documentation of druid activity. The spiral/circle motif is common in every ancient culture. The term Celt is a modern invention, the actual people of many different ethncities living on the now British Isles. The people who actually build the great stone monuments have been shown by DNA evidence from contemporaneous living sites to have been from the Mediterranean. The circle behind the cross is such a common image that it's absurd to connect it to any particular group. What's significant about the carved stone crosses is that they were apparently ancient markers, denoting sites of victories centuries before, that were then carved into crosses. The cross on the sun is just derived from Constantine's vision in 317CE of the chi rho iota emblazoned over the image of Helios, with a voice saying "by this sign you will conquer." So, you have the cross and the sun in Christianity with nothing to do with the so-called Celts. And it is an ancient Bablyonian image of the Zodiac, the four quarters over the sun. I love the ancient cultures of the Isles, but people really have to let go of the idea that there were ancient "Celts"...the Greeks just used that word to insult anyone they wanted to kill and steal land from.

[joanholland]

Thank you for this video! I didn’t know that the Celtic cross meant Christian ❤️

[andrewmiller]

So this is a cross that represents paganism/Christianity?

[elizabethdunne]

The holes are for air in the wet lands.

[TellMeAFable]

The Celtic Cross looks like an Ancient Egyptian ankh.

[thanhmansour]

That wheel looks like the Catherine wheel. I guess the irish believe in the wheel of fortune. One day your e down but next day you can be up.

[troyhayder]

It has two beams and four end points and one circle...

Magic number 42

Circle represents the recurring six

42=6*6+6

4*2=8
4/2=2
4+2=6
4-2=2

8+2+6+2=18

18=6+6+6

4=3+1
1/3=0.333
0.333 Cross 2=???

Circle=Pi for Six

Pi=3.14
14/3=4.666 etc...

3*14=42