Ireland: The Symbolism of The Shamrock and the Harp

The national flower and symbol of Ireland is the Shamrock, but the official emblem is the Celtic Harp. Each has its own significance in the history of Irish Culture.

The number three in Ireland is consider lucky, hence; the shamrock and its three leaves. The Shamrock was also known as the Seamrog, which means; summer plant which comes from the Irish word trefoil, meaning three-leafed. It symbolizes the Trinity of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit; faith, hope and charity; or past, present and future. The number three was utilized in many ways in the Irish culture and ancient Celtic Druid cultures believed that the plant had magical powers such as, the leaves stood straight up to predict approaching storms. Even Irish storytelling is done in the rhythm of triple repetitions.

The Shamrock is also the emblem used on the official airlines of Ireland, Aer Lingus. Each year on St.Patrick's Day, the airline flies shamrock to Irish Embassies all over the world so that the Irish diplomats and other personnel can participate in the "Wearing of the Green".

This flower is said to have been the flower that the Patron Saint of Ireland, St. Patrick, used as an example to explain the Three in One Godhead: The story goes that he was standing on a mound of shamrock and preaching to his congregation; and as a way of visually explaining his point, it is said that he bent down and plucked the flower from the ground at his feet to show how the three leaves on a stalk represented the Trinity. It is said that he converted many people to Christianity that day.

Another legend was that St. Patrick planted shamrocks all over Ireland to chase away the snakes. It is said that wherever there is trefoil planted that there will be no snakes. Now whether or not this is true we'll never know, but we do know that there are no snakes in Ireland. And the first written documentation of Shamrocks was in 1571, 1000 years after St. Patrick's death and in 1681 was the first mention of wearing it as a badge on St. Patrick's Feast Day. And as for the legend of the Trinity, there was no recording of that until 1727.

So whether these legends are true or not they still give us a sense of inspiration and an almost magical feeling.

Now on to the official emblem of Ireland, the Celtic Harp. Ireland is the only country in the world that has a musical instrument as its emblem. It has been recognized for eight hundred years as the national emblem because of its use in story telling. In the time of the Celtic Chieftains, those who played the harp were held in high esteem. Harpist would also be used to lead the troops into battle. But the harp was almost vanquished during the 16th century by an order of the British crown to end the rebellion. All harps were to be destroyed and their players killed. This order was successful until the late 18^th century when there was a resurgence of the harp.

In 1792 a Belfast Harp Festival was organized and a calling for any harpists to attend, luring them with cash prizes. There were only 10 who dared showed up. A young 19 year old church organist named Edward Bunting was hired to copy down the music as the harpists played. In copying he did not copy the bass notes during this first festival, but he made many more notations after this. His writings as well as his collections of the great harpist Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738), are still with us today. Anyone who has ever heard the sound of the harp can attest that it has a melodious and spellbinding sound of an unyielding spirit.

The Chieftains 1993 album is a tribute to Edward Bunting.

It is believed that the harp originated in Egypt and was brought to Europe by the Phoenicians in the pre-Christian times as a means of barter. The symbol of the Celtic Harp can be found on the presidential flag and state seals of Ireland.