Handfasting

23 Jan

Over the last year during the pandemic, there has been a massive increase in an ancient pagan tradition of handfasting. This Celtic tradition is a symbolic ritual where couples are bound together, physically, emotionally and spiritually. This is where the phrase “Tying the knot” came from. This kind of engagement lasts for a year and a day, as a trial marriage.

Although this is not legally binding, it is all about the intention of committing, hence why couples who had to move their weddings due to the pandemic (I feel for you guys!), have had a handfasting ceremony instead. In the past people who had no money and couldn’t afford a legal ceremony, they could still “jump the broomstick”, as it was a staple in every home. It is about the intention of jumping through a threshold into married life. Nowadays we have the bride being carried across the threshold by the groom.

For my handfasting, we made our broom and our handfasting cord. This was a fantastic challenge for us. Shout out to my parents for letting us borrow their garage! Have you ever tried to make a broom…in a flat… not easy! For us intention is everything so we collected our wood, Oak for him and Birch for myself - our favourite trees.

For our handfasting cord, we wanted to make each colour mean something to us. We had Grey for balance and neutrality - to make a strong stable foundation, Green for fertility and growth - for the family we wanted to build and Copper for a reminder to stay playful and young at heart - never to forget what brought us together. We enjoyed the whole experience but not everyone has the time. I had a friend who wanted one for her daughter but didn’t have the time. So I thought why can’t I share some of my joy to help other people. So I created it for them, they chose the colours and I got to work! They wanted a thinner cord so I used smaller ribbons. They also wanted to add some little charms. The diameter of the ribbon can cause some issues I didn’t foresee but I was happy and in the end, so was they - which was all I wanted.