Pages

Sunday, February 27, 2011

The Celtic Symbolic Wearing of Circlet

Well the Circlet has been around for a long time and it has many styles depending on the culture. The wearing of it, or any jewelry for that matter was a form of status in the ancient days. Of course the Celtic symbol then for the tiara, circlet or headdress marked you as someone of importance. Someone of noble blood.
Of course the oldest ones found are suppose to be of ancient Egypt according to many articles I've read. Each culture had a very different style as they developed in their own lands as they settled, traded and so on. Some were extremely heavy, some simple and some ornate. We know the Celts have incredible detail in their work from the grave sites found. Did you know that some peoples wore a simple band of cloth tied around the head, exactly like we would wear a head band today. Now looking at the Egyptian ones, some were made of delicate wire, and we can only imagine that these too were worn by the Celts as well. In fact it is the stories of elves in Lord of the rings and other novels that were inspired by the ancient Northern European tribes of both Celtic and Scandinavian origin. We do know that they even wore simple crowns of real flowers as well. All this found in the descriptions found in remnants of mythology, which was how they kept their history.

As the Greeks were very friendly with the Celtic peoples, we know very much that they both traded with each other and in Greek finds we have gold and silver plated wreaths over real leaves. No doubt saved for sacred or ceremonial occasions.

Celtic tribes in the eighth to sixth centuries BCE, created elaborate headdress. A bronze crown was found in Suffolk, England, which was made somewhere between 2nd and 4th century CE. Interestingly, it is made almost the same as the gunstrup cauldron, in plate pieces. This time in the magic number of three. It was also amazingly adjustable to fit the wearer. The Celtic tiara means it is not a full circle. There are many tiaras in Europe.

Most made with metal wire of silver, gold, and bronze. These metals were associated with the Sun and moon gods and goddesses. The Northern European tribes had Sun Goddesses as well as Moon Gods and vise versa. The Kings and Queens of these tribes, just as the Egyptians believed, were thought of as divine. Modern day Tribalists believe the same.

Stones of course can be used, these are symbols in themselves and a matter for another article. But they could be shiny rhinestones, which are made of glass, and well made. Crystals were also used. Although today, we are talking about Celtic weddings, as what these would be used for. They are quite popular as there is a resurgence of interest in our own culture again.

We use the tiara to hold the wedding veil in place but some persons are going for more of a circlet look which they also wore. The circlet resembles a bridal tiara except that its placed on the forehead rather than in the hair on top of the head.

We know that the colour Red was only worn by Royalty in the Celtic tribes as was said throughout the myths as well as it represented sacred blood. Green represented regeneration and growth, and many a person wore it, I am sure at Bealtuinne.

by Brahva Cwmevos
Bibliography
I have read so many books that it is hard to say which books I exactly found my research so I shall instead list some of the more likely authors,
Jean Markale
John and Caitlin Mathews
Peter Ellis
LLoyd and Jennifer Laing
The mythologies of the Mabinogion
Arthurian sagas by several authors.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you so much for your comments and helping to make this website better!

http://www.celtsandvikings.com