Claddagh ring

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Claddagh ring

The Claddagh ring (Irish: fáinne Chladaigh) is a traditional Irish ring given as a token of love or worn as a wedding ring. The design and customs associated with it originated in the Irish fishing village of Claddagh, located just outside the city of Galway. The ring was first produced in the 17th century during the reign of Queen Mary II, though elements of the design are much older. The symbolism behind the ring is "Let love and friendship reign"

Contents

[edit] Symbolism

The Claddagh's distinctive design features two hands clasping a heart, and usually surmounted by a crown. The elements of this symbol are often said to correspond to the qualities of love (the heart), friendship (the hands), and loyalty (the crown).

Claddagh rings are still worn as friendship, relationship eternity, engagement, or wedding rings depending on how they are worn. There are four distinct ways to wear a Claddagh ring which signifies the wearer’s status<ref>McMahon, S. (1999). Story of the Claddagh Ring, Mercier Press</ref>.<ref>http://www.galwayphotographssite.com/story/claddagh_ring.html</ref><ref>http://www.dochara.com/things-to-buy/the-claddagh-ring/</ref> <ref>http://www.celticjewelleryandgifts.com/yellow-gold-claddagh-trinity-band-with-yellow-profile-sides-p-453.html</ref>

1. On any finger on the wearer’s right hand, with the point of the heart away from the wearer’s heart towards the fingertip: The wearer’s heart is open – ie they are not in a relationship.

2. On the third finger of the wearer’s right hand, with the point of the heart pointing towards the wearer’s heart and away from the fingertip: The wearer’s heart is given, or that they are in a relationship.

3. On the third finger of the wearer’s left hand, with the point of the heart facing towards the wearer’s heart, away from the fingertip: The wearer is engaged or, nowadays, is in a committed long term relationship.

4. On the third finger of the wearer’s left hand, with the point of the heart pointing away from the wearer’s heart, towards the fingertip: The wearer is married.

More common today is when the Claddagh ring is given as an engagement ring and the wedding ring attaches to it. This is referred to as wedding set<ref>http://www.celticjewelleryandgifts.com/yellow-gold-claddagh-trinity-band-with-yellow-profile-sides-p-453.html</ref>. The wedding ring encompasses another Celtic design referred to as the Trinity Knot or Triquetra engraved on it. The Trinity Knot holds major significance in Irish Celtic mythology in that it is believed to represent the three stages of woman (Maiden/Wife, Mother, and Crone (old woman)<ref>Conway, D.J. (1995). Maiden, Mother, Crone: the Myth and Reality of the Triple Goddess, Llewellyn Publications</ref><ref>McMahon, S. (1999). Story of the Claddagh Ring, Mercier Press</ref>. However, in contemporary Ireland, It is believed to represent the three promises of a relationship during marriage such as to love, honour, and protect<ref>Conway, D.J. (1995). Maiden, Mother, Crone: the Myth and Reality of the Triple Goddess, Llewellyn Publications</ref><ref>McMahon, S. (1999). Story of the Claddagh Ring, Mercier Press</ref>.

Myth dictates bad luck falls upon a wearer who wears a Claddagh ring in the incorrect fashion to signify their current relationship status and they may never find true love<ref>McMahon, S. (1999). Story of the Claddagh Ring, Mercier Press</ref>. However, this may be a paradox, as the criteria for wearing a Claddagh ring as set out above is the custom amongst Ireland and other countries where the wedding finger is on the Left hand (United Kingdom, United States). However, in countries where the wedding finger is on the right hand (Poland, Spain, etc), it is widely accepted that the position of the Claddagh ring appears on the opposite hand as stated above depending on the relationship of the wearer<ref>McMahon, S. (1999). Story of the Claddagh Ring, Mercier Press</ref>.

[edit] Origins

The Claddagh ring is closely related to a group of European finger rings called “Fede Rings”.<ref>Scarisbrick and Henig, Finger Rings, Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2003</ref> The name "fede" comes from the Italian phrase mani in fede ("hands [joined] in faith" or "hands [joined] in loyalty"). These rings date from Roman times, when the gesture of clasped hands was a symbol of pledging vows, and they were used as love and marriage rings in medieval and Renaissance Europe.<ref>Scarisbrick and Henig, Finger Rings, Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2003.</ref>

Fede rings are cast in the form of two clasped hands, symbolizing faith, trust or “plighted troth.” Nowadays the Claddagh ring is seen as a distinctively Irish variation on the fede ring,<ref> Elizabeth McCrum, Irish Victorian Jewellery, in Irish Arts Review, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Spring, 1985), pp. 18-21.</ref> although the hands, heart and crown motif was once used in other European countries too.<ref>1706 English ring.</ref>

Galway has produced Claddagh rings continuously since at least 1700,<ref>Jack Mulveen, Galway Goldsmiths, Their Marks and Ware, Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society, Vol. 46, (1994), pp. 43–64.</ref> but the name "Claddagh ring" was not used before the 1840s.<ref>Ida Delamer, The Claddagh Ring, Irish Arts Review (Vol. 12, (1996), pp. 181–187 .</ref><ref name="places.galwaylibrary.ie">A freely available but incomplete copy of Delamer's article, The Claddagh Ring (1996), without pictures.</ref>

An early written description of this kind of ring was published in 1843, along with an illustration. Ireland, its Scenery, Character etc. by Mr and Mrs Samuel Carter Hall has a section about the Claddagh fishing community and their wedding rings. In a footnote the Halls mention a "strong analogy" with older gimmal rings, despite the "rudeness of their [the Galway rings'] construction".

The wedding ring is a heir-loom [sic] in a family. It is regularly transferred by the mother to her daughter first married; and so on to their descendants. These rings are large, of solid gold, and not unfrequently cost from two to three pounds each. The one we have here copied had evidently seen much service. Some of them are plainer; but the greater number are thus formed.

There are very similar descriptions in later 19th century books and journals. The Victorian antiquarian William Jones<ref>Finger-ring Lore, William Jones FSA, Chatto & Windus, 1877.</ref> gives Chambers' Book of Days<ref>Robert Chambers, Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities, 1863 (2004 reprint).</ref> as the source for Claddagh information in his book "Finger-Ring Lore: historical, legendary, anecdotal". Chambers uses the Halls' account "almost verbatim".<ref name="Delamer">Delamer</ref>

Jones explains:
The clasped hands [style ring]... are... still the fashion, and in constant use in [the]... community [of] Claddugh [sic] at [County] Galway.... [They] rarely [intermarry] with others than their own people. The [Claddagh] wedding-ring is a heirloom in the family... transferred from the mother to the daughter who is first [to be] married, and so passes to her descendants. Many of these [rings]... are very old.

In 1996 the Halls' information was examined by Ida Delamer, an expert on antique Irish silver.<ref name="places.galwaylibrary.ie"/><ref>Ida Delamer, The Claddagh Ring, Irish Arts Review (Vol. 12, (1996), pp. 181–187).</ref> She is sceptical about the Halls' account, and implies it has been romanticised. Her reasons include:

Delamer refers to a 1906 account by William Dillon,<ref>William Dillon, in the Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society, Vol V 1905–6.</ref> Dillon, from a family of Galway jewellers in business since c1750, says that the "Claddagh" ring was worn in the Aran Isles, Connemara, and beyond.

The Claddagh ring was a more or less marginal custom in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Knowledge of it spread within the British Isles during the Victorian period, and this is when its name became established.<ref name="Delamer"/> Galway jewellers began to market it beyond the local area in the 19th century,<ref name="Delamer"/><ref>Letters to Dillon's of Galway.</ref> and presented a ring to Queen Victoria in 1849. Dublin goldsmiths started to make it too, and more "widespread recognition" came in the 20th century.<ref>Elizabeth McCrum, Irish Victorian Jewellery, Irish Arts Review, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Spring, 1985), pp. 18–21 http://www.jstor.org/stable/20491715</ref>

American mineralogist and ring buff George Frederick Kunz does not mention the Claddagh ring in his book, but he shows a photo captioned with its correct name; Kunz merely addresses the importance of gold wedding rings in Ireland,<ref>Rings for the Finger, by George Frederick Kunz, J. B. Lippincott Co., 1917.</ref> but it is unclear exactly how and when the ring's popularity spread in the US. Interestingly enough, McCarthy neither mentions the ring nor illustrates an example of it, even though he cites/credits Jones and Kunz among others.

A "Fenian" Claddagh ring, without the crown, was later designed in Dublin. Claddagh rings, with or without the crown (most commonly with a crown), have come to denote pride in Irish heritage, while continuing to be symbols of love and marriage.

[edit] Legends

There are many legends about the origins of the ring, particularly those connected with the Joyce Family of Galway. Richard Joyce was a silversmith working around 1700.<ref>Galway Goldsmiths, Their Marks and Ware Jack Mulveen, Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society Vol. 46, (1994), pp. 43–64</ref> His initials are on one of the earliest surviving Claddagh rings with a maker's mark,<ref name="Delamer"/> but there are three others also made around that time, with the mark of goldsmith Thomas Meade.<ref name="Delamer"/> Suggestions that Joyce originated the design are "extremely unlikely" according to Delamer. Some elements found in the legends appeared in a footnote about Joyce family traditions in James Hardiman's History of Galway (1820).

The story of the Claddagh ring ... has so much folklore and myth attached to it that it is difficult to know where legend ends and truth begins. (Ida Delamer)

[edit] Modern usage and the Claddagh in folklore and fiction

Claddaghs continue to be worn, primarily by those of Irish heritage, as both a cultural symbol and as engagement and wedding rings.<ref name="Murphy">Murphy, Colin, and Donal O'Dea (2006) The Feckin' Book of Everything Irish. New York, Barnes & Noble. p.126 ISBN 0-7607-8219-9</ref>

At their Celtic Pagan handfasting, Irish/Scottish American<ref>http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_story/1930:2450/1/Jim_Morrison.htm</ref> musician Jim Morrison of The Doors and Irish American author Patricia Kennealy-Morrison exchanged claddagh rings.<ref name="PKM">Kennealy, Patricia (1992). Strange Days: My Life With And Without Jim Morrison. New York: Dutton/Penguin. ISBN 0-525-93419-7. </ref> A picture of the rings was included on the cover of Kennealy-Morrison's memoir, Strange Days: My Life With and Without Jim Morrison, and the claddaghs can be seen in most of her author photos as well.<ref name="PKM"/>

Claddagh rings have made periodic appearances in movies and television, often as a plot device to indicate the ethnic origins or relationship status of a character, to illustrate wedding scenes, or to indicate subtly that the relationship of two characters has changed.

Jill Masterton from the James Bond Novel Goldfinger wore a gold Claddagh ring.

Sometimes authors of fiction and fantasy works have given the ring a somewhat altered or fanciful symbolism to better suit their purposes, such as writer/director Joss Whedon's use of the ring as a recurring plot device in the television series, Buffy The Vampire Slayer.<ref name="Bite Me">Stafford, Nikki (2002) Bite Me! An Unofficial Guide to the World of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Toronto, ECW Press. ISBN 1-55022-540-5 p. 213</ref> Declan from the movie Leap Year proposes with his mother's Claddagh ring.

The movie Leap Year (2010) has a subplot about a Claddagh ring, and at the end of the movie, the Claddagh ring is used in the proposal.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

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[edit] References

[edit] External links

da:Claddagh Ring de:Claddagh Ring es:Anillo de Claddagh fr:Claddagh ring ga:Fáinne Chladaigh gl:Anel de Claddagh it:Claddagh Ring nl:Claddagh-ring ja:クラダリング pl:Claddagh ring ru:Кладдахское кольцо fi:Claddagh

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