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→‎Symbolism: not according to the source, silly source though it is - it states that right hand can be in a relationship
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#On the left hand with the heart in reverse, the wearer is married.<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>
#On the left hand with the heart in reverse, the wearer is married.<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>


There are other, local variations in the traditions involving the hand and the finger upon which the Claddagh is worn. Folklore about the ring is relatively recent with no "slow growth from antiquity" and "very little native Irish writing about the ring".<ref name="McMahon">McMahon, S. (2005). Story of the Claddagh Ring, Mercier Press</ref> (It can easily be gleaned that the generic message is if the Claddagh is worn on the right hand, the lady is 'available'; if worn on the left she is unavailable.)
There are other, local variations in the traditions involving the hand and the finger upon which the Claddagh is worn. Folklore about the ring is relatively recent with no "slow growth from antiquity" and "very little native Irish writing about the ring".<ref name="McMahon">McMahon, S. (2005). Story of the Claddagh Ring, Mercier Press</ref>


==Origins==
==Origins==

Revision as of 20:25, 29 March 2012

Claddagh ring

The Claddagh ring (Irish: fáinne Chladaigh) is a traditional Irish ring given as a token of friendship, love. 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, though elements of the design date to the late Roman period.

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). A "Fenian" Claddagh ring, without a 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 or marriage.

Claddagh rings may be used as friendship or relationship rings depending on the intention of wearer and, in the case of a gift, of the giver. The way that a Claddagh ring is worn on the hand is usually intended to convey the wearer's relationship status:

  1. On the right hand with the point of the heart toward the fingertips, the wearer is single and may be looking for love.
  2. On the right hand with the point of the heart toward the wrist, the wearer is in a relationship, or their heart has been "captured".
  3. On the left hand with the point of the heart toward the fingertips, the wearer is engaged.
  4. On the left hand with the heart in reverse, the wearer is married.[1]

There are other, local variations in the traditions involving the hand and the finger upon which the Claddagh is worn. Folklore about the ring is relatively recent with no "slow growth from antiquity" and "very little native Irish writing about the ring".[2]

Origins

The Claddagh ring belongs to a group of European finger rings called "fede rings".[3][4] 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.[3]

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,[5] while the hands, heart, and crown motif was used in England in the early 18th century.[6] It is generally accepted that the ring is directly descended from the fede ring.[7]

Galway has produced Claddagh rings continuously since at least 1700,[8] but the name "Claddagh ring" was not used before the 1840s.[9][10]

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 [sic] 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 Sir William Jones[11] gives Chambers' Book of Days[12] as the source for Claddagh information in his book Finger-Ring Lore. Chambers uses the Halls' account "almost verbatim".[4]

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 [sic] 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.[10][4] She is skeptical about the Halls' account, and implies it has been romanticised. Reasons for her doubts include:

  • The authors were misled by folklorist Thomas Crofton Croker.
  • "...with a few exceptions, all extant... Claddagh rings made prior to 1840 are [men's] rings"

Delamer refers to a 1906 account by William Dillon,[13] Dillon, from a family of Galway jewellers in business since c. 1750, says that the "Claddagh" ring was worn in the Aran Isles, Connemara, and beyond.

The Claddagh ring was a 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.[4] Galway jewellers began to market it beyond the local area in the 19th century,[4][14] 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.[15]

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.[16] It is unclear exactly how and when the ring's popularity spread to 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.[17]

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.[18] His initials are on one of the earliest surviving Claddagh rings with a maker's mark,[4] but there are three others also made around that time, with the mark of goldsmith Thomas Meade.[4] 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)

Modern usage

Claddagh rings are worn by many, though slightly more commonly by those of Irish heritage. It is generally worn as a cultural symbol and/or as an engagement or wedding ring.[1] Claddagh rings have been used often as plot devices in movies and television.[19] [20]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b Murphy, Colin, and Donal O'Dea (2006) The Feckin' Book of Everything Irish. New York, Barnes & Noble. p.126 ISBN 0-7607-8219-9
  2. ^ McMahon, S. (2005). Story of the Claddagh Ring, Mercier Press
  3. ^ a b Scarisbrick and Henig, Finger Rings, Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2003
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Delamer
  5. ^ Elizabeth McCrum, Irish Victorian Jewellery, in Irish Arts Review, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Spring, 1985), pp. 18-21
  6. ^ 1706 English ring.
  7. ^ Finger-ring Lore, William Jones FSA, Chatto & Windus, 1877
  8. ^ Jack Mulveen, Galway Goldsmiths, Their Marks and Ware, Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society, Vol. 46, (1994), pp. 43–64.
  9. ^ Ida Delamer, The Claddagh Ring, Irish Arts Review (Vol. 12, (1996), pp. 181–187 .
  10. ^ a b A freely available but incomplete copy of Delamer's article, The Claddagh Ring (1996), without pictures.
  11. ^ Finger-ring Lore, William Jones FSA, Chatto & Windus, 1877.
  12. ^ Robert Chambers, Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities, 1863 (2004 reprint).
  13. ^ William Dillon, in the Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society, Vol V 1905–6.
  14. ^ Letters to Dillon's of Galway.
  15. ^ Elizabeth McCrum, Irish Victorian Jewellery, Irish Arts Review, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Spring, 1985), pp. 18–21 http://www.jstor.org/stable/20491715
  16. ^ Rings for the Finger, by George Frederick Kunz, J. B. Lippincott Co., 1917.
  17. ^ McCarthy, James Remington, (1945) Rings Throughout the Ages
  18. ^ Galway Goldsmiths, Their Marks and Ware Jack Mulveen, Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society Vol. 46, (1994), pp. 43–64
  19. ^ 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
  20. ^ http://fallers.wordpress.com/2010/08/26/modern-usage-of-the-claddagh-ring-in-film-and-television/

References

  • Jones, William, (1890) Finger Ring Lore
  • Kunz, George Frederick, (1911) Rings for the Finger
  • McCarthy, James Remington, (1945) Rings Throughout the Ages
  • McMahon, S., (2005) Story of the Claddagh Ring, Mercier Press
  • Mitchell, James, (1985, 1986) The mis-titled ‘Joyce’ tomb in the Collegiate Church of St Nicholas, Galway, vol. 40
  • Mulveen, Jack, (1994) "Galway Goldsmiths: Their Mark and Ware", Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society, vol. 46
  • Martyn, Adrian James, (2001) The Tribes of Galway, Galway
  • Sammon, Paddy (2002), Greenspeak: Ireland in Her Own Words, Town House Press. ISBN 1-86059-144-2
  • Claddagh Ring - Richard Joyce Montana Tech University
  • Pearsall, Judy [ed.], (2004) "Claddagh Ring" in The Concise Oxford Dictionary, Oxford University Press
  • McAdoo, Patricia, (2005) Claddagh: The Tale of the Ring with illustrations by James Newell

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