Handfasting Ceremony

[RavensSong]

Please help. Am planning a handfasting ceremony this weekend.

Here's the score, My fiancee` and I want to have a handfasting ceremony to announce our engagement. We understand the need to wait 1 yr and 1 day from the date of the handfasting, to get married. My question is; are there specific rules in performing the ceremony, or is it flexible & because we will have some people in attendance that, are devout christian, I do not wish to offend anyone, how would we go about making it seem less ( it bothers me alot that people have such a skewed view of Paganism & Wicca) awkward for those in attendance? :ack:

[ravenmyst]

a couple in my UU church just did that last week and they are hving the formal wedding in 2 months. not sure about whats right. The ceremony itself wasnt too over-the-top, although it was combined with May day

[RavensEye]

Oh yes it can be as fleixble as you want it to be. There are alot of people who havebeen in your siutation to . Some just do the cord tying and have the person perfroming the ceremony explain what it symbolizes and so on.

[RavensSong]

Oh yes it can be as fleixble as you want it to be. There are alot of people who havebeen in your sitatuion to . Some just do the cord tying and have the person perfroming the ceremony explain what it symbolizes and so on.

Thank you very much for your feedback on this. I've been a stressed wreck this week trying to sort out what to do about it. We're supposed to do this on saturday.

[ravenmyst]

we called crossquarters, they vowed to care and honor each other, they exchanged rings on first finger and did the hand binding, released cross quarters, and were done, not to drastic, easily modified to mute or disguise, hope you relax and all goes well

[~Elise~]

Please help. Am planning a handfasting ceremony this weekend.

Here's the score, My fiancee` and I want to have a handfasting ceremony to announce our engagement. We understand the need to wait 1 yr and 1 day from the date of the handfasting, to get married. My question is; are there specific rules in performing the ceremony, or is it flexible & because we will have some people in attendance that, are devout christian, I do not wish to offend anyone, how would we go about making it seem less ( it bothers me alot that people have such a skewed view of Paganism & Wicca) awkward for those in attendance? :ack:

A handfasting is not an engagement ceremony. It is a marriage ceremony done in sacred circle. It can be legal or non-legal depending on how your state laws work. If you choose the non-legal path...you can choose to re-do and make it legal a year and day later.

You may want to rethink what you're calling this. Not trying to rain on your parade by any means...just want you to know what a handfasting truly is.

That said...I have a complete ceremony that I just did for a couple last month. I can email it to you, if you'd like.

Elise

[~Elise~]

http://www.handfasting.info/

http://www.handfasting.info/histhand.html - History of Handfasting

http://www.earth-dancing.com/handfasting.htm - This talks about a Handsal -- which is an engagement ritual

http://www.religioustolerance.org/mar_hand.htm - yet another POV

this should get you started.

Elise

[RavensSong]

A handfasting is not an engagement ceremony. It is a marriage ceremony done in sacred circle. It can be legal or non-legal depending on how your state laws work. If you choose the non-legal path...you can choose to re-do and make it legal a year and day later.

You may want to rethink what you're calling this. Not trying to rain on your parade by any means...just want you to know what a handfasting truly is.

That said...I have a complete ceremony that I just did for a couple last month. I can email it to you, if you'd like.

Elise


It was my understanding that the non-legal path was considered the engagement. I will make note of the wording and change it in our ceremony. Thank you for your thoughts on this.

[RavensSong]

we called crossquarters, they vowed to care and honor each other, they exchanged rings on first finger and did the hand binding, released cross quarters, and were done, not to drastic, easily modified to mute or disguise, hope you relax and all goes well

Am calming down as most of the stressful stuff is done now. Just need to begin food preparation. We're expecting about 20 people or so to show up. Unfortunately this is going to be a bit of a problem, should it decide to rain that day. We'll manage, but it'll be difficult to fit everyone inside the house. :)

[~Elise~]

do you know how to 'cut' the rain? put an athame in a cup of water and set on the boundaries of the property and it should NOT rain there.

Elise

[Amara Grace]

i am interested in the hand fasting as a renewal of vows, is this possible and anyone have ideas? thanks