Hand Binding...HELP????

soohappy · December 2011

I was looking for a new twist on the whole unity candle thing when I came upon a hand binding ceremony. After reading a few online articles and seeing it had a Celtic influence FI and I decided we wanted to do it, we are both Irish and love the idea of adding in a bit of our history in. Now a friend pulled it up online and said it's a Wicca/ Pagen thing and we shouldn't do it because we are Christian. I just thought it would be a cute way to "tie the knot" instead of the typical unity candle/ sand ceremony thing. We are getting married by a pastor and it will be a legal marriage. I am not trying to offend anyone, PLEASE HELP!!!

ochemjenn · December 2011

We didn't have any additional unity ceremony. The whole wedding is a unity ceremony.

Did you watch Will and Kate's wedding? Our reverand did wrap his stole around our joined hands right before the "What God has joined let no man put assunder!" (We didn't do it because of the royal wedding. It's done at all Episcopal and Church of England weddings - I know know about other demoninations.)

FaithCaitlin · December 2011

I think it's sweet and cute. I say go for it.

Heck, some people think/believe that the Christmas tree is a pagan symbol. I don't know what the truth is but I do know that most Christians put Christmas trees up!

It's your wedding; do your thing!

RebeccaJac · December 2011

Yep, many Christmas traditions originated from pagan tradition. Christ was actually most likely born in the spring time, not winter. His birth was celebrated in the winter time because of a pagan celebration going on at the same time and Christians could celebrate without being persecuted.

I'd do some more research. Wicca isn't exactly the best to be meddling with, but if it's loosly pagan or only one source says it wiccan, I wouldn't worry about it.

fpaemp2011 · December 2011

A "Handfast" is a pagan wedding tradition.

We did a Cord of Three Strands, which some will say was stolen from the Handfast, but so was Christmas. You can check out www.godsknot.com for more information on the strands and the symbolism..

drama1308 · December 2011

Hand Fasting is part of pagan/wiccan ceremonies. Like the others said, many Christian traditions did come from pagan customs and such, but they are no longer associated with those things now. While the idea seems apealing to you, I would stray away from it solely because it is still associated with paganism and wicca. (I wouldn't want to invite the devil to my wedding!)

Maybe you can come up with something else. Have you heard of the unity cross (http://shopinspiration.com/)? I know it's pricey but maybe you could get somebody to make you something close.

naomikb · December 2011

We didn't do "Hand Fasting" but our pastor wrapped his stole around our hands after we exchanged rings and did a prayer while we were all tied together. It seemed very natural and made sense, I didn't/don't see a problem with such a practice.

toothpastechica · December 2011

All things are permissible, but not everythings is beneficial ( paraphrase from memory). I think you need to decide what it means to you, if you decide to use it to explicitly have the pastor (or whoever is marrying you) explain it in a way that is your understanding of it, and it would be fine. However if you are worried about the pegan background or what pepole might percieve as pegan or wiccan...then it might not be beneficial. Really you ahve to decide, i think its more of a 'how important or not is to you to include (especially if you think it might be offensive to people 'cause them to stumble') and what what meaning does it have to you than it is a sprirtual issue.

toothpastechica · December 2011

ps. if you are interested...we are having a 'salt covenent' at our ceremony instead of unity candle...

it was a way of sealing convenents in early bible times. heres some more info:http://www.marriagesaltcovenant.com/FAQ.html

BMcLeodTeam · December 2011

That unity cross is really pretty.... now I'm torn, couldn't decide what we wanted to do if anything... but I would love to assemble that together in that way and display it at our house...

kristea0337 · December 2011

We decided against the unity candle. We've decided to have communion just us two to the side of the front of the church while either my sister or someone else sings an appropriate song. My sis had this at her wedding. My cousin had communion with the attendees also having communion. Both are nice but FH & I will have several non-Christian family members in attendence & we don't want to make them feel pressured to take communion faulsly so we have decided to make it "private."

Hand Binding...HELP????

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