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The History of Handfasting
By Geraldine Clarkson
Seeing that St. Valentine’s Day is round the corner I’m not going to write about the history of St. Valentine (who was a Roman priest and martyr) and St. Valentine’s Day – for the obvious reason. But as the approaching of February 14th is getting us all in a romantic mood (or not) I thought I’d stay on the theme and give a bit of intel from the point of view of my favourite subject (or one of them) - ancient Celtic symbols.
As with a great many other ancient Roman customs and rituals, that of St. Valentine’s day has many connections with Celtic history, folklore and tradition. According to one custom, for example, on St. Valentine’s Day unmarried men would choose their mate by drawing a woman’s name from a ballot. The girl’s name would then be worn on the boy’s sleeve for all to see. The expression to “wear your heart on your sleeve” derives from this age-old Celtic tradition.
The name-picking ritual would then be followed by the handfasting ceremony, an ancient Celtic wedding ritual during which the hands of the couple were symbolically bound together. This sealed the union – not forever, but for a ‘trial’ period of one year and a day. In 1820 Sir Walter Scott described the ceremony, saying: “When we are handfasted, as we term it, we are man and wife for a year and a day; that space gone by, each may choose another mate, or, at their pleasure, may call the priest to marry them for life; and this we call handfasting" (and we thought pre-marriage trial periods were a modern day invention). The expression “tying the knot” originates from this ceremony.
I am a translator living in Italy. My main interests are: ancient symbolism in general and Celtic Symbols in particular, green themes (renewable energy, energy saving in the home, etc.), natural health, creative ideas, positive thinking...
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Great intel, Geraldine, well written and a great read.
I love to read about customs from other lands.
Thank you for sharing.
Best wishes.
Frederick
I have been looking for information on Celtic knots. One of those must do things. Interesting custom. Another forgotten lesson from history.
Reg
Wonderful Intel! Thought provoking....
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This intel was contributed by Gerry
Gerry
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February, 2012
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