What is a Handfasting?
A handfasting is an old Pagan custom, dating back to the time of the ancient Celts. A handfasting was originally more like an engagement period, where two people would declare a binding union between themselves for a year and a day. The original handfasting was a trial marriage. It gave the couple the chance to see if they could survive marriage to each other. After a year goes by (a handfasting was once believed to last a year and a day), the couple could either split as if they had never been married or could decide to enter permanently into marriage.
Today, Wiccans, Pagans, and even people not of Nature spirituality traditions have embraced handfasting as a part of their wedding ceremony. A handfasting can either be a legal marriage or a commitment for "as long as love shall last." A handfasting ceremony can be tailor made to suit the couple. In recent years, the handfasting ceremony has become so popular that couples of varied faiths are choosing to be married in this way.
The handfasting ritual is a beautiful, magical rite of passage. Many non-Pagan and non-Wiccan couples are adopting this old custom to craft their own ceremony to match their distinctive personalities.
Above: Handfasting or Pagan wedding in High Park, Toronto, Canada, 1979, between Vivian Power and Ted Merritt; performed by Richard James (wearing ram's horns); priest of Wicca. Photo: John Mahler for the Toronto Star