My fiance and I are considering having a handfasting at our wedding ceremony.
Handfasting is the binding of the bride and groom's hands during a ceremony as a symbol of the two becoming one in flesh. Our pastors don't know much about the ceremony, but when we explained it thought it would be beautiful and agreed to perform it, even though it is not generally part of a Christian ceremony. Handfasting has roots in quite a few polytheistic religions but has historically been performed among people of many faiths, even among some groups of European Christians, but is now primarily associated with pagans. Our ceremony will definitely consist of more than just a handfasting and otherwise conform to Christian wedding procedures.
We are just so sick of seeing the unity ceremonies with the candles and sand; they became so trite, and now everyone expects them and anything goes. It's not uncommon anymore for people to perform these with anything that can be poured together, even unity fish tanks and cocktails. I think they've lost the symbolism. We wanted a ceremony to show what the unity candle (sand/fish tank/cocktail/maybe-we-could-do-it-with-fruit-loops-and-cheerios) originally represented, but is becoming lost.
Because the symbolism of handfasting so perfectly encompasses everything that Christian marriage represents, we would really like to use it in our ceremony. Since none of our guests are pagan, I am sure they will not be offended or misled. I understand that many widespread Christian traditions do stem from pagan rituals. Adopting nothing from the ceremony except the tying of hands and writing the ceremony from scratch, I think it could be easily be a beautiful expression of God's covenant.
Before we go through with it, I am just curious to see if any Christians more familiar with the practice have any different opinions than our pastors, friends, and us. Here in Small Town, USA, we're a little isolated from the views of the rest of the world, and I want to make sure we are not missing anything in scripture specifically against borrowing a ritual from another culture and using it to glorify God.
Handfasting is the binding of the bride and groom's hands during a ceremony as a symbol of the two becoming one in flesh. Our pastors don't know much about the ceremony, but when we explained it thought it would be beautiful and agreed to perform it, even though it is not generally part of a Christian ceremony. Handfasting has roots in quite a few polytheistic religions but has historically been performed among people of many faiths, even among some groups of European Christians, but is now primarily associated with pagans. Our ceremony will definitely consist of more than just a handfasting and otherwise conform to Christian wedding procedures.
We are just so sick of seeing the unity ceremonies with the candles and sand; they became so trite, and now everyone expects them and anything goes. It's not uncommon anymore for people to perform these with anything that can be poured together, even unity fish tanks and cocktails. I think they've lost the symbolism. We wanted a ceremony to show what the unity candle (sand/fish tank/cocktail/maybe-we-could-do-it-with-fruit-loops-and-cheerios) originally represented, but is becoming lost.
Because the symbolism of handfasting so perfectly encompasses everything that Christian marriage represents, we would really like to use it in our ceremony. Since none of our guests are pagan, I am sure they will not be offended or misled. I understand that many widespread Christian traditions do stem from pagan rituals. Adopting nothing from the ceremony except the tying of hands and writing the ceremony from scratch, I think it could be easily be a beautiful expression of God's covenant.
Before we go through with it, I am just curious to see if any Christians more familiar with the practice have any different opinions than our pastors, friends, and us. Here in Small Town, USA, we're a little isolated from the views of the rest of the world, and I want to make sure we are not missing anything in scripture specifically against borrowing a ritual from another culture and using it to glorify God.
