High Crosses of Ireland by Dixie Walljasper

In the spring of 2015 I had the pleasure of joining Semester Abroad Ireland sponsored by Mesa community college.  For the month of June, the participants each took two classes one being Irish storytelling and the second being the Ancient History of Ireland.  We had storytelling classes every day in history classes in the afternoon with Friday Saturday and Sunday usually occupied with a fieldtrip to an historic site we been studying during the week.  

I have many favorite memories from that trip but would like to share a topic that I’m going to read further this semester.  As we traveled to different sites on several occasions we were near graveyards with the carved headstones sub resembling the High Crosses.  I assume that the high crosses marked the burial sites of the village nobleman or King and remark several times on their beauty.  

One of the field trips that we went to Clonmacnoise to visit the ruins of a Castle and old church.  At this particular site 2 High Crosses had been brought into a visitor center and especially lighted to feature the carvings on the cross and to protect them from the elements.  In the reading that I started now I’ve learned so much more about those beautiful old crosses.  The high crosses have been found at the sites of monasteries and served not as burial markers but rather boundary markers giving notice that this was a sacred place.  The crosses also seem to have been placed in the yard of the monasteries and may well have been meditation and prayer sites perhaps like Stations of the Cross in a Catholic Church.  So the carved biblical scenes may have served as reflection focuses or prayerful focuses for the monks and people in the nearby villages.

The earliest high crosses are thought to have been carved in the 7^th century, CE and consisted of a simple slab with line drawings often representing the shape of a cross but without the crucifixion or other figures.  They had elaborate ribbon designs that we recognize today as a Celtic knot design drawn on the surface of the slab.  Even the early slab crosses were large some as tall as eight or nine feet.  The high crosses seem to occur in clusters and each cluster seems to represent a change in design and suggest that a different stonemason carved them.  Soon the high crosses changed from slabs to the shape of a cross with outstretched arms and gradually the cross arms were carved with the crucifixion of Jesus according to the gospel of John.  Depicted in the center of the cross were the two soldiers one offering the sponge vinegar and the other piercing Jesus’ side the placement of these figures forms a triangle with the top of the crucifixion cross.  

As time passed more carvings were added to the surfaces of the high crosses many depicting biblical stories from the Old Testament. The circle around the arms of the cross that are such a recognizable feature of the high crosses originated not in Ireland but in Egypt.  In the fourth and fifth centuries the idea of a cross in a circle was being used by the Romans on carved ivories and sculptured sarcophagi.  These circles on the cross sometimes consisted of flowers or fruit representing rebirth and renewal.  So the early Christians had the symbol of the circle cross and it traveled to Ireland when the monks moved the monasteries to Ireland.  

By the ninth and 10^th century the crosses were taller and more elaborately carved with panels depicting biblical scenes and the circle in the cross was firmly established. The crosses and their symbols reflect roots in ancient Egyptian monasteries in the Celts the early Christians becoming more elaborately carved and grander in stature as time passed. 

I have more reading to do and look forward to learning more about the beautiful old crosses that so enchanted me while I was in Ireland.

Comments

[ChantelFreed69]

Love it! This was an amazing blog Dixie.

[Elizabeth Wunsch]

What a great cultural history lesson. Thank you Dixie.

[Myranette Robinson]

What a great article!! Thanks for sharing.

[Crystal Gale]

I will see these crosses in a new light. I liked that they marked an area of sacred space and provided a focal point for meditation. I look forward to hearing more about these crosses in the future. Thanks Dixie.

[ChantelFreed69]

Excellent writing. Loved it!!!