While the Handfasting ritual incorporated in modern
wedding ceremonies as a form of spiritual joining owing
its popularity to the movie Braveheart,
handfasting has a long history in Scotland where it was
traditionally a form of betrothal (consent in the future
tense).Having made promises in the future tense, once
the relationship was consummated the couple were deemed
to be married whether or not they had been through a
wedding ceremony conducted by a clergyman.
Handfasting and legal marriage in
Scotland
The term, handfasting derives from the Old Norse
hand-festa, meaning to strike a bargain by shaking
hands. Thus, the mere act of joining hands in front of
witnesses was deemed to be a marriage by declaration
and, until the law changed in 1939 three types of
irregular marriage existed in Scotland. These were
cases where the couple, in effect, agreed to be
married without an official ceremony.
a mutual agreement in front of a witness
a promise of marriage followed by sexual
relations, and
marriage by "cohabitation with habit and repute"
- if a man and woman behaved and lived as if a
married couple
The first two were no longer recognised after 1
January 1940, when the 1939 reforming Act took
effect, but marriage 'by cohabitation with habit and
repute' was legally recognised until 2006
Regardless of the legal situation, from 1753 the
attitude of the Kirk (Church of Scotland) to marriages
created by future tense consents followed by
consummation changed. Though the
Kirk recognised such marriages as fact, they regarded
them as “sinful” and therefore encouraged such
couples to be married again in the church.
Handfasting Scottish Style
The church did not like
marriages that took place outside of their
institutional structures. Though they
recognized clandestine marriages as fact, they
regarded common marriages as not “sanctified” and
therefore, “sinful”. They encouraged such
couples to be married again in the church. - See
more at:
http://www.celticjewelry.com/content/celtic-weddings/a-brief-history-of-handfasting-in-celtic-marriage/#sthash.UdMz35Yb.dpuf
Simply put, handfasting, Scottish style, involves the
couple's hands being bound together by the ban',
This can be a length of cloth, in clan tartan, made
up of two tartans, representing the clans of bride and
groom, or tartan ribbon, other ribbons, and/or cords,
either on their own or plaited together.
And, as there is no authorised form of the ritual,
together we will create the words and the method of
tying to reflect your individual wishes. In common with
other elements of traditional Scottish weddings, the
handfasting ritual is a ceremony of complete
equality between the couple.
Incorporating a handfasting in your marriage, civil
partnership declaration ceremony, or commitment ceremony
can be a beautiful addition to the ceremony and a way to
acknowledge family ties as well as your personal
commitment to one another, both by the words and by
including family members in the ritual.
It might be worth noting that one of the things that
make some people reluctant to consider handfasting is
the widespread, but incorrect, belief that historically
a handfasting was a trial marriage. That was never the
case, but we can thank a combination of
misreporting in the 18th century and romantic fiction
(Sir Walter Scott's novel, The Monastery)
for spreading this rumour together with the internet and
many celebrants for perpetuating it!
