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Handfasting
Ever wondered where
the term “Tie the Knot” came from? Read on…
There are many
different versions of the story of Handfasting but the most common is;
it was a "temporary" marriage that lasted for a year and a day. Many
small villages did not a have local minister or priest to perform a
marriage ceremony, so couples would perform a hand fasting which legally
bound them until someone of the clergy could perform a ceremony.
Handfasting was traditional before weddings became a legal function of
the government or taken over by the formal religions in the early
1500's. Handfasting remained legal in Scotland until 1939,
even after Lord Harwicke’s Act of 1753 declaring that marriages in
England were legal only if performed by a clergyman. After Lord
Harwicke’s Act, the Scottish border town, Gretna Green became a Mecca
for eloping couples from England who fled there to perform their own
Handfasting.
The very word Handfasting derived its origin from the wedding custom of
tying or hitching the bride and groom's hands or actually their wrists
together, as a symbol to their clan, tribe or village of their decision
to be bound together in family living. The traditional length of time
was a year and a day, or 13 moon cycles. If the marriage proved to last
over this period of time, then the vows would be renewed for a life time
or they renewed them for "as long as love shall last".
On the last day of “the year and a day promise” they would then make a
promise for infinity repeating their promise to each again. A cord is
tied in a knot around their hand while the ritual takes place. This is
where the term “tie the knot" came from when referring to getting
engaged or married today. |
