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(50 Reads) comments?
General information: Celtic/Pagan Handfasting
Posted by: Nyxks on Thursday, July 22, 2004 - 10:24 PM
Overview:
There are two conflicting beliefs about the history of Handfasting:
"Handfasting" was the word used by the ancient Celts to describe their traditional
trial-marriage ceremony, during which couples were literally bound
together. The handfasting was a temporary agreement, that expired after a year
and a day. However, it could be made permanent after at that time, if both spouses agreed.
"Handfasting" was the word used throughout the once-Celtic lands of Scotland and Northern England to
refer to a commitment of betrothal or engagement. It was a ceremony in which the couple publicly
declared their intention to marry one year and a day in the future. In 1820, Sir Walter Scott used the term
to refer to a fictional sacred ritual that bound the couple in a form of temporary marriage for a year and a
day. He wrote of it in his book "The Monastery:" "When we are handfasted, as we term it, we are man
and wife for a year and a day; that space gone by, each may choose another mate, or, at their
pleasure, may call the priest to marry them for life; and this we call handfasting."
Handfasting was suppressed following the Synod of Whitby in 664 [CE}...when Celtic Christianity was
abandoned for the Catholic Church.
Even though the historical legitimacy of handfasting as a form of trial marriage is in doubt, some
Wiccans and other Neopagans today create handfasting rituals for their own use or adopt ceremonies
written by other Neopagans.
During the 1995 movie, Braveheart, Mel Gibson, in the role of William Wallace, was handfasted with his
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