Hands #139

I took this at a wedding party this past weekend. The only thing I did to it was add a Vignette so the focus was more on the hands.

Handfasting was traditionally a very simple ceremony – the bride and groom faced each other and joined right hand to right hand and left hand to left hand and were bound by a ceremonial wrap or rope. In Scotland the cloth was usually a piece of the groom’s family tartan.

The expression of “tying the knot” came from this early Celtic marriage ritual. Later Irish, Scots, and the Welsh also adopted this ritual. Handfasting is thought to be Pagan in origin but the symbolism surrounding this ritual was so expressive it found its way into some factions of Catholicism practiced in Britain after the rise of Christianity.