Unity candle alternatives

Superchick7424

I've seen several post about this subject and I would like to share what we are doing for ours. It's called a Cord of Three. You can read all about it at Godsknot.com. Its a gold ring with three ropes attached. White, purple, and gold or yellow. The groom holds the ring while the bride braids it. It represents God, the bride, and groom coming together as one. I thought it was pretty neat and the website provides all info needed on it.

handfast4me

Yeah, um.  This is actually adapted from the Pagan (pre-Christian) tradition of handfasting.  The cords are always in three, which is symbolic in Paganism, and again, adapted into Christianity, and traditionally, the couple braid their handfasting cord together.  It's exactly what DH and I did before our ceremony, under the waxing moon.  The colors each represent something too.  We added stones and shells to us, each also with a meaning.  Heck, even the colors of Christmas are from the Pagan God and Goddess (red and green). 

vallsass

I think it's a cool idea regardless of which meaning you ascribe to the symbol-- that's why it's a symbol. You get to decide what it means to you. If you like the christian symbolism check out the verse in Ecclesiastes (I think 4:12) that talks about a cord of three strands not being broken. It goes along with that nicely. I just attended a friend's wedding and they used this verse/symbol throughout the entire wedding. It was really neat and very meaningful to them. Thanks for sharing!

handfast4me

I agree-I have no problem with using it, I only object to things when they're purported to be of one religion, when they actually existed long before.  I saw this side years ago when looking for a handfasting cord, before we decided to braid our own.  As I recall, this site and many others like it sort of gave the idea that this was a Christian only tradition, which is not correct.