This vibrant green belt is an Irish Crios, a multi coloured woven woolen belt. Traditionally made from wool of six different colours, often with a white border, it was worn by the men of the Aran Islands, bound around their tweed trousers. ‘Christy Crios’ belts are woven using Donegal wool in vibrant yellow, green & grey colours.
Hand crafted to use as a belt, a guitar strap or a hand fasting braid to ‘tie the knot’.
95 inches in length.
IRISH BELT CHRISTY CRIOS
An Irish Crios (pronounced Kris) is a multi-coloured woven woollen belt. Traditionally it is woven from wool of six colours, often with a white border. The belts were worn by the men of the Aran Islands, off the west coast of Ireland. The Irish word for a belt is ‘crios’. The Crios as we know it, was traditionally woven by the Aran Island women, using their feet to stretch the warp for weaving. These Irish Belts, are an iconic part of our textiles heritage.
CELTIC HANDFASTING BRAID
The Celtic Tradition of Handfasting is the practice of couples committing to each other by having their hands tied together using a crios braid, and exchanging rings and vows in a traditional non-religious ceremony. The term we now know as ‘tieing the knot‘ has its roots in this celtic marriage practice.
We love to receive photographs of happy couples ‘tieing the knot’ with our CHRISTY CRIOS. There is so much heritage wrapped up in this knotted Irish belt, which is often framed and becomes a feature in their home.
