The triple spiral is a traditional Celtic design and has a variety of meanings depending upon the context in which it is found. For instance, it may have to do with agriculture (the three elements referring to the necessary balance needed between planting, harvesting and fallowing respectively) and reflects spirals found in nature (whirlpools for instance). The knot can also used to help one contemplate ones connection to the universe (i.e. as a Mandela). The spiral is also thought to represent the sun’s movement around the earth, which makes considerable sense when the spiral is found on a site devoted to tracking the sun’s movements.
The clockwise spiral generally refers to the sun and the length of the days throughout the year’s course. The spiral also refers to growth/expansion and can serve as a mandala with the eye naturally flowing to the center. This design and others like it are often incorporated in Celtic jewelry/clothing.
Weaving two Celtic knots into a central knot has come to be known as the wedding knot. It symbolizes the joining of two families for eternity. This pattern seems to intensify when both the husband and wife wear matching rings emblazoned with Celtic knots.
Many Celtic knots feature an unbroken line indicating that everything is related to everything else. Beyond that various patterns of the Celtic Knot take on additional meanings. For example, the Celtic Knot displayed here is a love knot because it has two knots intertwined in the center. This particular design is very popular on rings for obvious reasons. If you look closely, you will see two intertwined hearts.
Many Celtic knots have one feature an unbroken line. No matter where you begin the knot never ends. The continuous line in the accompanying illustration signifies the interconnected eternal nature of all things. It is a simple, powerful, elegant design. As will be seen in subsequent entries, various patterns of the Celtic Knot take on additional meanings.
Some critics consider art/craftsmanship associated with the Celtic tradition to be inferior to more “advanced” civilizations. However the surviving Celtic artifacts belie the criticism. Celtic art/craftsmanship was equal to or superior to those of any comparable society.
All one needs to do to confirm this observation is to examine the surviving artifacts. The designs created by the early Celts are extremely intricate, detailed and interesting. Were they not of quality, these designs would not be used in numerous applications today (in jewelry, on tee shirts, in tapestries, on swords, and so forth).
In my view, it is absurd to find fault with Celtic craftsmanship/artistic talent when the evidence of their talent is obvious in the artifacts that survive from early Celtic times. I have only provided visuals of one such artifact of early Celtic art in the accompanying graphic but it seems sufficient to make the point. These images are of the Gundestrup Cauldron, which is indisputably of Celtic origin. It depicts various aspects of Celtic belief in extremely well crafted reliefs requiring considerable artistic talent. I urge you to look at other Celtic artifacts and judge for yourself whether the work is “of quality”.
The Cosmos is an unending source of fascination for humans. Not surprisingly, then, the Celts were among those interested in the size, nature, and meaning of the heavenly bodies they were able to observe. The Celts made a variety of observations including some about the impact of the sun and moon on things like the tides and people’s moods.
The Celts also used their observations about the phases of the moon to develop an extremely accurate calendar that dates from around 1100 B.C., a system that served them well into the Christian era.
In many respects celestial observations made by the early Celts were more accurate than observations made by other Europeans (this is known by comparing the Celt/European observations to observations made by the Chinese and others….the Celts’ observations align more closely with the Chinese observations than do the observations of other European cultures). These records suggest the Celts’ intellectual tradition was strong and well beyond the barbarians their enemies made them out to be.
Some have argued that the Celts were illiterate because they did not develop a language of their own until the 2nd or 3rd century A.D. It is true they did not develop a written language of their own until then, but it is not true they were illiterate prior to that time. In effect, they used languages of those they came into contact with to record a variety of things (praises to various Gods, words on coins, records of ceremonies, and so forth). The languages used were typically Latin and Greek.
In this area, as in many other aspects of Celtic life, there is discord over the extent and nature of buildings constructed by the Celts. Some say that the Celts were basically nomadic and threw up only the most primitive structures. Others credit them with some monumental achievements. The record suggests that neither of these interpretations is accurate. The Celts built some impressive structures but not monumental ones. Some fortified towns boasted impressive houses laid out in an orderly fashion and enclosed by thick fortified walls. In some cases, the houses even had underground drainage systems.
In many cases, the Celts used wood for their buildings and most of those buildings have disappeared. However, in some regions (Scotland for instance) the circumstances caused them to use stone. Many of these structures still stand and the artifacts found therein certify them as undeniably Celtic.
The structures I find most fascinating are the “crannogs”. A crannog is illustrated below. In essence, the Celts built a crannog in a lake or a bog. They would raft boulders to a site in a lake and sink those boulders until an island was formed. They then sunk pilings and built the structures deemed necessary. They also constructed a drawbridge for ease of access. Presumably, the Celts went to all this trouble to make their homes easy to defend and difficult to attack.
Builders were held in high esteem and considered “professionals”. There were set rates to be charged for various types of construction. Laws also covered things like arson and damage to buildings (if your cow ate someone’s thatched roof for instance you were held liable).
What I mean by infrastructure here has to do with how Celts moved about in the areas they controlled. In essence, how they crossed land and sea. It appears the Celts were able to cross land masses with ease via an extensive system of roads. However, the evidence for an extensive system of roads in Celtic controlled areas is largely based on circumstantial evidence. For instance, large wagons with iron rimmed wheels have been found in numerous burial tombs. Thus, one would assume that roads existed to handle these wagons. Little actual evidence of the roads themselves exists because they were made from wood. However, some sections of these wooden roads have been preserved in bogs. It appears the road base was made from birch with less robust tree species being used for the cross planks on the roadway surface.
The case for large ocean going vessels is similar to the case for roads. No vessels have been found that can be attributed to ship building of this nature by the Celts (small river going vessels have been discovered but no large vessels capable of ocean travel have been found). However, the extensive trade between the Celts and other regions indicates that such vessels must have existed. Additionally, various writers also refer to such vessels in their accounts. Julius Caesar, for instance, describes Celtic ships in detail and with a certain amount of envy.
Thus, in this area (surface and water routes) the Celts seem to have had an extensive infrastructure.
