- The Celtic knot has ancient origins in Ireland. The design first appears in Irish art around A.D. 450, around the time St. Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland. The knot may have older origins and may be related to older pre-Christian designs, but scholars have also suggested a link between the Celtic knot and similar interlace designs that Patrick and his fellow missionaries may have seen in Italy.
Whatever the knot's origins, it became overwhelmingly popular in Ireland and among related Celtic peoples. The Irish adopted the knot design and perfected it, and by the 8th century, knotted interlace was the defining characteristic of Irish art. Interlace designs appear on jewelry, weapons, buildings and in manuscripts. The Book of Kells and carved Celtic crosses testify to the skill of these early Irish artists. - Scholars still disagree about the meaning of the Celtic knot -- and even about whether it has meaning.
Skeptics argue that the Celtic knot is merely a decorative design, useful for filling architectural spaces and manuscript pages. They insist that any search for a specific meaning is completely unsupported by any evidence. Any meanings we ascribe Celtic knots are innovations, not something the original artists intended when making their designs.
On the other hand, meanings have been attributed to various knots over the years. Even if the Celtic knot began as a merely decorative element, it has acquired different meanings over the years. For example, the three-sided knot, or triquetra, has been associated with the Holy Trinity at least since the Celtic Revival of the 19th century. If we aren't too insistent on discovering the "original" meaning of the Celtic knot (which may not even exist), we can discover a wealth of newer, but still resonant, meanings in these ancient designs. - All Celtic knots share two essential characteristics: All the interwoven strands are endless, and they overlap in a strict over-under pattern.
Most symbolic interpretations of Celtic knots and interlace designs focus on these two characteristics. The endless paths of the Celtic knots are seen to represent continuity, eternity and the infinite. This has been seen as an expression of Christian eternal life, or as the continuity between the ancient Irish and the modern Irish diaspora.
The over-under patterning evokes themes of interconnectedness and unity: all the different strands of life, woven into one unified, interrelated design. - The quaternary knot is a special four-sided form of the Celtic knot. The quaternary knot is less common then the three-sided form, but it has acquired a set of specific meanings all its own.
The four sides are said to evoke the four seasons, which were marked in ancient Ireland by the solstice festivals of Samhain, Beltane, Imbolc and Lughnasadh. They also refer to the four cardinal directions, and thus relate to the Earth. More literally, they can refer to the four Gospels; quaternary knots were used in this way in the Book of Kells. More far-fetched explanations tie quaternary knots to the teachings of the Druids.
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