The Claddagh ring (Irish: fáinne Chladaigh) is a traditional Irish ring given as a token of love or worn as a wedding ring. 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 during the reign of Queen Mary II, though elements of the design date to the late Roman period.
Below is some folk legends about the Claddagh:
(a) Way back in the sandy mists of time, so the story went, it seemed as there was this king. This king was madly in love with a peasant woman, but as she was of a lower class the love had to go unrequited. In dread despair the king killed himself and had his hands lopped off and placed around his heart as a symbol of his undying love for the woman.
(b) It symbolizes love (heart), friendship/faith (hands) and loyalty (crown). Two hands Joined together in love and Crowned by the Glory of Christ.
(d) There was a Dublin version of this Ring that appeared some 100 years back with two hands and two Hearts but No Crown Some call this Version the Fenian Claddagh.
(e) The Crown to The Father, The Left hand to the Son, and the Right Hand the the Holy Ghost. This Explanation is directly Correlative to the Shamrock, one of the Earliest Symbols of the Holy Trinity among the Irish.
(f) Some will say Beathauile is the Crown, Anu is the Left hand, and the Dagda Mo/r is the Right hand and the Heart is the Hearts of all mankind and that which gives the everlasting music to the Gael.
(g) As legend has it, the town developed the ring (originally a sigil to be painted on ships and sails) to be worn by sailors of Claddagh. When these sailors would run into other fishermen in their waters, they would check for the sigil, and if they did not find it, they would kill them.
(h) The original Claddagh ring is generally attributed to one Richard Joyce, a native of Galway, who while being transported as a slave to the plantations of the West Indies was captured by Mediterranean pirates and sold to a Moorish goldsmith who trained him in his craft. In 1689 he was released and returned to Galway and set up his shop in the Claddagh. (The Claddagh is said to be the oldest fishing village in Ireland). By tradition the ring is taken to signify the wish that Love and Friendship should reign supreme. The hands signify friendship, the crown loyalty, and the heart love. The ring has become popular outside Connamera since the middle of the last century- its spread being helped by the vast exodus from the West during the great Famine in 1847-49. These rings were kept as heirlooms with great pride and passed from mother to daughter. Today, the ring is worn extensively across Ireland, either on the right hand with the heart turned outwards showing that the wearer is "fancy free" or with the heart turned inwards to denote that he or she is "spoken for". The pride of place is on the left hand, with the heart turned in, indicating that the wearer is happily married.
There are three traditionally accepted ways of wearing the ring which may signal someone's relationship status:
1. When worn on the right ring finger with the heart pointing to the fingertip, the wearer is free of any attachment.
2. On the same finger with the ring turned around, it suggests someone is romantically involved.
3. When the ring is on the left hand wedding ring finger it means the person is married or engaged.
There are other traditions involving the hand and the finger upon which the Claddagh is worn - but these are difficult to reference. Folklore about the ring is relatively recent with no "slow growth from antiquity" and "very little native Irish writing about the ring" according to Sean McMahon.
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