Claddagh Rings And Older Symbols

This post first appeared on Leslie’s Psyche as part of the book tour for Blood Knot.

Irish Claddagh rings are simple in design but are endowed with a wealth of meaning. They look romantic and have been adopted by more than just the Irish as wedding and engagement rings.

The heart in the ring is a symbol of love, the hands symbolizes friendship and the crown signifies loyalty.  The combination of the elements means the ring can be used to indicate friendship, eternity, engagement or marriage, depending on how the ring is worn.

• When the ring is worn on the right hand, with the heart pointing to the fingertip, it means the wearer is not romantically involved with anyone.
• If the ring is turned around, the wearer is involved.
• Worn on the left hand, with the heart pointed toward the finger, means the wearer is engaged.
• Worn on the left hand, with the heart pointing upwards, means the wearer is married, or in a committed relationship.

There are variations in the meaning of the wearing of the ring.  It can change from location to location and country to country, as Claddagh rings are worn all over the world now.  How the ring is worn and what it means has become a personal interpretation, although generally everyone agrees that the heart pointing toward the wearer, on the left hand, means that the wearer is in a committed relationship.

Surprisingly, Claddagh rings of this distinct design haven’t been around all that long.  The earliest references that historians can find for them is around the 1700′s in Galway, but the name “Claddagh” has only been in use since the 1840′s.

No one knows who designed the Claddagh ring.  Its origins are a mystery.  Wikipedia reports that:

” 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. His initials are on one of the earliest surviving Claddagh rings with a maker’s mark, but there are three others also made around that time, with the mark of goldsmith Thomas Meade. Suggestions that Joyce originated the design are “extremely unlikely” according to Delamer. ”

Whoever did design the ring, they were probably borrowing from an idea that the Romans had been using for centuries.  “Fede Rings” were rings used in medieval and Renaissance Europe as love and marriage rings.  The name “fede” comes from the Italian phrase mani in fede (“hands joined in faith” or “hands joined in loyalty”). The rings dated from Roman times, when the gesture of clasped hands was a symbol of pledging vows.  Fede rings were cast in the form of two clasped hands, symbolizing faith, trust or “plighted troth.”

The designer of the Claddagh ring definitely used the idea of Fede Rings for his own design.

In Blood Knot, I look liberal poetic license, and suggested that Sebastian’s unknown father was the designer of the Claddagh rings.  Nial, a Roman, would instinctively understand the symbolism of the Claddagh rings, which is why one particular ring in the story ends up having incredible emotional importance throughout the novel.  It’s also why you find it on the cover.

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