posted July 25, 2006 05:16 PM
Thanks everybody!A handfasting is basically a pagan wedding ceremony that involves using a ceremonial cord of symbolically significant length and color to tie our hands together as a sign of our bond. We had two cords, one silver that was as long as I am tall and one gold that was as long as B. is tall, that we used to wrap our hands.
aw heck.. I'll just post the transcript of our ceremony-
The Wedding/Handfasting of
Stephanie and Brett
June 24th, 2006
(These lines of poetry were read by close friends and family that were standing in each of the quarters of the circle)
*The scent of love is roses on the wind,
The spring day dawns, and we rise and begin.
*The sight of love is two pairs of flashing eyes
That lock onto each other and reflect summer skies.
*The taste of love is kisses like wine,
As we share the cup that is yours and mine.
*The feel of love is a warm embrace,
Held like a babe in our safest place.
*The sound of love is a silent song
That runs through our souls, resounding and strong.
The ceremony begins:
officiant: Friends and family, tribe and community, we are gathered here to celebrate love in all its forms, but especially the love that makes a commitment between two people. This kind of love is not afraid to make promises. It is not afraid to work and to struggle. It seeks not only to be but to continue. It is based not only on the pleasures of the present but on the hopes of the future. This is the kind of love that creates an anchor between two people, one that they can float away from and then find their way back safely. It also anchors a home and a family and along with other such great loves creates the bonds of a community. We celebrate and applaud the love and the promises of Stephanie and Brett. May they always be a living hope for the future and for all of us.
The officiants now hand their books over to Brett and Stephanie to read to one another their vows:
Brett: personalized vows. (This is where we spoke a few things on the spot, unrehearsed, from our heart)
officiant: Do you come here, Brett, to be made one with Stephanie?
Brett: I do, for she is the beloved of my heart.
Stephanie: personalized vows.
officiant: Do you come here, Stephanie, to be made one with Brett?
Stephanie: I do, for he is the beloved of my heart.
Together: (spoken back and forth to each other)
By seeds of all beginnings, I make this oath.
By roots of all depths, I swear to love you with all my might.
By stem and trunk that reach for the sky, I swear to respect your soaring spirit.
By bud that grows, I swear never to crush your dreams.
By leaf that kisses the sun and rain, I swear to share my joys and sorrows with you.
By flower that opens to the dawn, I swear that I do trust you.
By fruit that gives forth sweetness, I swear to nourish and support you.
By seed within the fruit that grows the tree anew,
I swear to begin anew with you, again, and again,
As many times as the gods shall decree.
By life and death, by Lord and Lady, by hand and eye, by heart and spirit,
This I do swear to you here before the Fates
And mark my soul forever with your touch.
As all green things grow, so shall our love,
And its memory be carried forever beneath the feet
Of a thousand generations to come.
officiants take the goblets from the table and pour wine into them, handing the green one to Stephanie and the orange to Brett, who give each other a sip:
Stephanie: Drink of sweetness, and I promise you years more of it to come.
Brett: Drink of sweetness, and I promise you years more of it to come.
officiant: Brett, do you choose to take Stephanie as your wife, to care for her above all others, to provide for her happiness before even your own, to treat her with honor and respect, both publicly and in private, so long as your love shall last?
(Brett answers).
Stephanie, do you choose to take Brett as your husband, to care for him above all others, to provide for his happiness before even you own, and to treat him with honor and respect, both publicly and in private, so long as your love shall last?
(Stephanie answers).
(The rings are brought out).
All things turn in circles. The Earth spins in a circle and turns around the sun, and the sun turns around the galaxy. Time turns in circles of birth and death and rebirth yet again, and the planets do also spin in this way. And, like all things, marriages move in cycles as well. Sometimes the fires will burn brightly, and sometimes they will die down to coals and then spring up again in bright flames. Sometimes love is warm as the spring, and sometimes it becomes winter cold with troubles and disruption. By taking on the symbol of the circle, you make a promise to remember always that all things come around; to keep faith in spring while enduring winter, to never lose hope that the ashes will flame again, and that your love will be renewed.
Stephanie: (Placing a ring on groom's finger) This is a token of my love, that you may never forget it and may always take comfort from its presence.
Brett: (Placing a ring on bride's finger) This is a token of my love, that you may never forget it and may always take comfort from its presence.
officiant: Place your hands in the symbol of eternity. (Brett and Stephanie clasp hands, right to right and left to left, and are bound with the cord on the center of the table, with a total of six knots). The tying together of the hands symbolizes that you are no longer two separate people but a new unit, a family, bound together in mutual love.
Repeat after me: I, Stephanie, (bride repeats) promise you, Brett, ®) that I will stand by you in sunshine and in storm, ®) in darkness and in light, ®) through good times and bad. ®) Will you accept me as you wife? ®)
(Brett answers).
Repeat after me: I, Brett, (groom repeats) promise you, Stephanie, ®) that I will stand by you in sunshine and in storm, ®) in darkness and in light, ®) through good times and bad. ®) Will you accept me as your husband? ®)
(Stephanie answers).
Thou art bound, and art bound well; thou hast found thy magic spell, the gods thy love will ever tell.
I pronounce thee wedded, and may eternal blessings be on thee forever, no matter where thy paths do lead. May it follow thee down hill and dale, through forest and waste land, over mountain and into valley, pursuing ever like the faithful hound, and never lose sight of thee. Be thou joyful in thy choice.
(The couple kiss).
(officiants begin quoting from "on love", from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran).
Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be you desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstacy;
To return home at evening with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise on your lips.
officiant: In the old days, the broom was a symbol of fertility as well as a household object. It was the first thing brought into the home of a newlywed couple after bread and salt, and it was used to sweep their path so as to symbolize the sweeping away of obstacles. Both ancient European traditions and African-American traditions had newly wedded couples jump over the broom for luck, fortune, fertility of family and lands, and also to show that they would accept the ordinary domestic tasks of the house together, which as a daily household tool the broom represents. Are you ready?
(officiants hold the broom steadily at ankle height for the couple to jump over).
At this time, please take a moment to write one word or phrase denoting a quality chosen to bless the newlyweds and place the card and pen in the basket as you walk over the threshold on your way out.
For family members who were given cords to tie around the wrists of the newlywed, please take this moment to project into the cords all the good wishes that you have for the couple. You may tie them onto their wrists as you cross the threshold on your way out.
Lindaland
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posted July 21, 2006 04:41 PM
posted July 21, 2006 07:29 PM
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posted July 24, 2006 07:44 PM
Congrats! 
