Handfasting Ceremony

I am pagan so my whole ceremony is going to revolve around a handsfasting. It is common practice to make the cords yourself so your love and positive energy is placed into it. Colors that are choosen have meaning behind it. Here is a list of some colors and there meanings

Red - will, love, strength, fertility, courage, health, vigor, passion

Orange - encouragement, adaptability, stimulation, attraction, plenty, kindness.

Yellow - attraction, charm, confidence, balance, harmony

Green - fertility, luck, prosperity, nurturing, beauty, health, love

Dark Blue -for a safe journey, longevity & strength

Light Blue - tranquility, understanding, patience, health

Purple - healing, health, strength, power, progress

Black - strength, empowerment, wisdom/vision, success, pure love

White - spiritual purity, truth, peace, serenity and devotion

cont...

Gray - balance, neutrality, used in erasing, canceling, neutralizing, and return to the universe without repercussion

Pink - love, unity, honor, truth, romance, happiness

Brown - for healing , skills & talent, nurturing, home & hearth, the earth.

Silver - for creativity, inspiration & vision, and protection.

Gold - for unity, longevity, prosperity, strength.

That's awesome! Thanks for sharing! I've read about the different meanings behind different colors (though not this many!) which I love.. but at the same time, I really want to pick out beautiful ribbons that match our colors! I know it sounds silly.. We've got lots of time to decide though!

Thanks again!

Of course I completely understand. Most colors have very inspirational meanings and just thought you would want some insight as to what they mean. I think its a really nice tradition to have at your ceremony. I love the idea of really being able to symoblize the bond the two of you share together. Many many years ago the ancient celts used this ceremony instead of a traditional marriage because they were usually lower class and could not afford a true wedding. This was there way of letting people know how they felt about each other.

Ah yes some fellow pagan brides! While we have postponed ours, whenever we do get married, we are doing handfasting ceremony as well. The symbolism is so ancient it gives such an awe feeling to the ceremony. We would also be jumping the broom, which in pagan culture symbolizes crossing a new path together, as well as a sign of fertility & fortune.

FH is Pagan as well, thus part of the reason why we are doing our ceremony the way we are. It is totally Celtic Pagan written as well as our vows. We are also doing a handfast, in which I made our cording with all 13 colors. I so love this idea and cannot wait for this.

I am doing this as well, I bought different charms that represent different things. Things that FH likes, things I like and things we like together. To me it was just adding a little personal touch. ie) FH loves fishing so I got a fish, anchor I like to bake so I got a cupcake we both love our dog so i got a little dog and then a hear for both of us with some insporation words like love, respect, devotion things like that. Make it yours Heck thats what that day is about you guys

Many of my brides do this without a pagan context. It is lovely, but it can absolutely be integrated into a spiritual ceremony

We are going a different route. We also are choosing not to do a unity candle, so we are doing a G-d's knot. We are changing the colors - I almost have mine all done.

http://www.godsknot.com/CordOfThreeStrands.aspx

For our legal wedding on June 4th we did a handfasting since we both come from Celtic stock (Irish for me and scottish for him). I wanted to honor our heritage so we did a handfasting. I wore a celtic dress and he wore a grey suit that matched, as well as a tie of his clan tartan. The vows were handfasting vows with a christian twist, and our handfasting ribbon we both braided together, with a ring of sodalite (http://crystal-cure.com/sodalite.html) on one end and a ring of tigerseye (http://crystal-cure.com/catseye.html) on the other end. We also sewed tiny rose quartz (http://www.crystal-cure.com/rosequartz.html) along the length of the handfasting ribbon, finally with a small silver celtic cross charm in the middle (http://www.bead-exclusive.co.uk/image/cache/data/t%20charms/35g%20BS-500x500.jpg). We used a state ordained civil ceremony officiant who agreed to do our wedding our way because he could tell it was special to us even though he had never heard of it before...

After the knot was made and we kissed we slipped our hands out of it and will never untie that knot! I'll show some pics later. Oh, as for colors we braided a blue ribbon for me and a brown one for him around a white ribbon for the purity we both shared (both virgins) :3

Celia - thank you for your confirmation! We are not pagan, but I love this tradition!

Brandy - I love the idea of starting the night, kissing/ceiling the union, and then making the not by slipping your hands out! That's awesome! I'd love to see pictures! Thanks!

I've done a few HF ceremonies. One was around St. Patrick's Day-a Celtic Wedding! Another was in a garden and the bride had braided all the ribbons. It is a beauriful, meaningful ritual. We even had the couples kids involved wrapping the ribbons, to include the unititing of the families.