Crios / Belt

The traditional Irish Léine was hitched up to knee length and held in place by a belt, known in Gaelic as a Crios (pronounced "kriss"). The traditional Crios was made of hand-woven wool of several colours and shades. Although no images have survived showing the Léine worn with the woollen Crios, there are some extant Criosanna (the plural form) kept in the National Museum of Ireland and the earliest date to the mid 1600s. These are unlikely to have been the first of them to be made and they are no doubt of a much earlier vintage. The earliest surviving Irish belt was made of horse hair and has the same type of tasselled ends as we find on the colourful woollen Criosanna of many later centuries.

The Irish Crios survived well into the twentieth century, worn by the people of the Aran Islands. These Criosanna are three metres long and are worn wrapped around the body with one ending left hanging. The other end is simply tucked in to the layers wrapped around. It therefore has no knots or ties but simply held in place by itself.

A wide variety of colours are found in the Irish Crios and we have many examples of this ancient technique. Some have loose fringed ends and some have decorative knotwork. While the three metre long Crios is the archetypal form, we have some shorter lengths which are used as children. Shorter Criosanna also serve as hand-fasting cords and as such are becoming very popular, both in religious and secular weddings. All our Criosanna are hand-made.

Presumably simple leather belts were also worn with the Léine. We occasionally have some of this type for sale.

Criosanna do not have to be worn with traditional clothing. They look fantastic worn with modern jeans, casual trousers and skirts. See examples below.

PLEASE NOTE:

— We post worldwide.

— We use only 100% wool, as our ancestors did.

—- Short Criosanna are suitable for hand-fasting and as a lasting memory of your wedding day.

— Hand-fasting is traditionally part of the Gaelic wedding (Irish/Scottish) custom.

— The Gaelic crios can be worn with modern clothing giving it an attractive addition.

— There are approx. 200m of yarn in three metres of crios.

— It takes approx. 9 hours to weave one 3m crios.

— Colour can vary depending on the settings of your monitor.

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	CR001 TH Material: 100% wool Colour: Bottle green, green, grey, orange, cream and black Length: 1.41m Width: 5.5cm Price: €68.00+P&P Note: Suitable for hand-fasting/ weddings		CR002 LH Material: 100% wool Colour: Grey, yellow, pink, green, orange and biege Length: 3.25m Width: 6cm SOLD		CR003 LH Material: 100% wool Colour: Purple, blue, white, black, yellow and cream Length: 1.40m Width: 5cm SOLD
	CR004 LH Material: 100% wool Colour: White, bordo, red, blue, green and dark green Length: 3.00m Width: 5cm SOLD		CR005 LH Material: 100% wool Colour: Purple, red, bottle green, yellow and white Length: 3.24m Width: 4.5cm SOLD		CR006 TH Material: 100% wool Colour: Light blue, blue, yellow, black, cream and white Length: 1.42m Width: 5cm SOLD
	CR007 LH Material: 100% wool Colour: Dark blue, yellow, blue, white and light grey Length: 1.35m Width: 6cm SOLD		CR008 LH Material: 100% wool Colour: Green, carrot red, cherry, yellow and cream Length: 3.0m Width: 5cm SOLD		CR009 TH Material: 100% wool Colour: Navy blue, brown, pink, red and white Length: 2.80m Width: 6cm Price: €93.00+P&P
	CR010 TM Material: 100% wool Colour: Purple, blue, white, black, yellow and cream Length: 1.40m Width: 5cm SOLD		CR011 LH Material: 100% wool Colour: Dark blue, yellow, blue, white, red and light grey Length: 1.83m Width: 6cm SOLD		CR012 TH Material: 100% wool Colour: Bottle green, green, grey, orange, white and black Length: 2.75m Width: 5cm SOLD
	CR013 TH Material: 100% wool Colour: Purple, blue, white, black and yellow Length: 2.90m Width: 5cm SOLD		CR014 TH Material: 100% wool Colour: Yellow, green, grey, white, orangy red and beige brown Length: 3.60m Width: 4.5cm SOLD		CR015 LH Material: 100% wool Colour: Burgundy, peach, light grey, red, mustard and white Length: 1.35m Width: 6cm Price: €68.00+P&P Note: Suitable for hand-fasting/ weddings
	CR016 LH Material: 100% wool Colour: Light blue, blue, yellow, grey and white Length: 1.38m Width: 5cm Price: €68.00+P&P Note: Suitable for hand-fasting/ weddings		CR017 LH Material: Woolrich Colour: Green, white and orange Length: 1.35m Width: 5cm Price: €68.00+P&P Note: Suitable for hand-fasting/ weddings		CR018 TH Material: 100% wool Colour: Red, black and maroon Length: 1.33m Width: 5cm SOLD
	CR019 LH Material: 100% wool Colour: Red, orange, blue, green, yellow, light brown, cream and white Length: 1.50m Width: 5cm SOLD		CR020 Material: 100% wool Colour: Green, black, yellow and grey Length: 3.0m Width: 5cm SOLD		CR021 LH Material: 100% wool Colour: Olive green, light green, light grey, red, dark blue and white Length: 1.34m Width: 6cm SOLD
	CR022 LH Material: 100% wool Colour: Dark blue, yellow, blue, white, red and light grey Length: 3.55m Width: 5cm SOLD		CR023 TH Material: 100% wool Colour: Red, white, blue and black Length: 3.0m Width: 5cm SOLD		CR024 TH Material: 100% wool Colour: Bottle green, green, grey, orange, white and black Length: 1.80m Width: 5cm SOLD
	CR025 LH Material: 100% wool Colour: Grey, off white, orange, bordo, green and yellow Length: 1.60m Width: 4.5cm SOLD		CR026 TH Material: 100% wool Colour: Red, black and maroon Length: 1.36m Width: 5cm SOLD		CR027 Material: 100% wool Colour: Red, white, blue and black Length: 3.0m Width: 4.5cm SOLD
	CR028 LH Material: 100% wool Colour: Bottle green, green, grey, orange, white and black Length: 1.80m Width: 5cm SOLD		CR029 TH Material: 100% wool Colour: Red, yellow, green,, light maroon, brown and cream Length: 3.0m Width: 5cm SOLD		CR030 TH Material: 100% wool Colour: Light blue, blue, yellow, black, cream and white Length: 1.37m Width: 5cm SOLD
	CR031 LH Material: 100% wool Colour: Purple, cream, yellow, green and brown Length: 2.90m Width: 5cm SOLD		CR032 LH Material: 100% wool Colour: Grey, orange, green, white, brown, light brown, dark brown and light grey Length: 3.20m Width: 5.5cm SOLD		CR033 LH Material: 100% wool Colour: Grey, red, brown, green, blue, yellow and biege Length: 2.83m Width: 5cm SOLD
	CR034 LH Material: 100% wool Colour: Grey, off white, orange, bordo, green and yellow Length: 3.04m Width: 4.5cm SOLD		CR035 LH Material: 100% wool Colour: White, blue, green, red and dark blue Length: 3.18m Width: 5cm SOLD