Symbolism Behind The Sterling Silver Cross Necklaces

Symbolism Behind The Sterling Silver Cross Necklaces

What is the symbolism behind sterling silver cross necklaces? The best way to answer that question is to start with the basic silver cross necklace and work up from there.

The essence of the cross necklace is four lines intersecting each other with a smaller vertical line above the horizontal line and a much long vertical line below the horizontal line. This is to represent the type of cross used to crucify Jesus Christ.

This brings up an interesting note when discussing the symbolism of the cross necklace. Their really are two distinctive cross necklace symbol that are common in Christianity. The Crucifix and the Cross. The difference is with the Crucifix Christ is hanging from the cross representing the death of Christ. The plain cross represents an empty cross which represents a resurrected Christ. For many it also takes away the gruesomeness of the dead body of Christ.

For this blog we are limiting our discussion to the symbolism of the Cross.

The first symbolism of the cross is the literal cross that hung Jesus while he died. The emptiness of the cross represents that Christ is no longer on the Cross and is resurrected which also means all mankind will be resurrected.

The cross from a jewelry stand point also includes thousands of types of cross necklaces which adds to the symbolism of the Cross. This can be from a cultural stand point, an artistic stand point or from a historical stand point.

A good type of cross to illustrate these three aspects of Cross symbolism would first be the Celtic Cross necklace. This is only one example of many types of cross necklaces that represent cultural influences.

The Celtic cross necklace adds a circle around the intersection of the cross. This Celtic circle like in other cultures represents the concept of eternity.

Over time the Celtic crosses came to represent even more to the cross symbol. The picture shown above contains many elements of other Celtic crosses all in one Celtic cross.

Typically Celtic crosses add trinity knots which are Celtic knots that have three corners and each corner represents a member of the Holy Trinity. Other Celtic crosses have a typical Celtic knot. A typical Celtic knot has a line making up the knot that has no beginning or no end. This is a Celtic symbol for eternity. Celtic crosses are a great way to add more symbolism to the Christian cross.

The Fleur de Lis Cross necklace has a fleur de lis symbol which is by definition the Lilly of France but it's jewelry symbolism for the cross is symbolic of three's which is similar to the trinity knot in Celtic crosses and it's representation of the Trinity.

The end cap of this Fleur de Lis cross necklace represents the Fleur de Lis and symbolically represents the Holy Trinity. The Fleur de lis Cross as well and the Crusader cross necklace also represent Heraldic crosses. Theses are crosses used on battle shields and decoration for swords and weapons. These later developed in heraldic symbols which is where the history side of crosses come from.