Although there are many traditional and not so traditional ways for couples today to enter into the ceremony of marriage, many of those couples are turning to the ritual of what is better known as handfasting.
Handfasting is a ceremony that includes many rituals that traditional ceremonies might have, such as having many attendees or including guests in the rituals, and can be performed by an interfaith minister from Universal Life Church.
An interfaith minister from Universal Life Church can be well versed in this tradition and ceremony and can perform a wedding as a handfasting wedding officiant.
Handfasting is well known in the Celtic culture, however it dates all the back to Medieval Times. The Wiccan and Pagan communities also celebrate their vows with the practice of handfasting.
Handfasting usually entails a ritual of having the bride and groom clasp hands and other attendees come to wrap colorful cords or ribbons around their clasped hands. Originally, the history of handfasting was meant to depict that a couple was bound together as husband and wife. A man and a woman would take each other by the hand and turning inwardly toward one another, they would declare that they were bound to each other for life.
Originally, throughout history, handfasting symbolized that a man could choose a woman to be his throughout the course of one year. If he was content with this woman, he could then go forth and marry her upon the end of that year. However, handfasting came to be known as so much more than that ritual. Handfasting began to symbolize that a man and a woman were committing themselves to one another and symbolically, the wrapping of chord or ribbon around the couples hand depicted them to be married and bound to each until eternity.
As a wedding officiant, an interfaith minister can perform a wedding in this manner. Couples today can choose to have this minister perform the handfasting ceremony of their dreams. Couples can pick and choose any type of ceremony they wish through the Universal Life Church to complete the wedding ceremony of their dreams.
With the backdrop and foundation on the belief that everyone is entitled to his or her belief and that no one else has the right to infringe on the belief, the opportunities for a wedding ceremony including handfasting are abundant and rich.
Handfasting can be a beautiful tradition laced with meaning and richness wherein couples can rest assured that their wishes for that rich and abundant ceremony come to fruition.