Tying the Marriage Knot

The Handfasting Hoop & Wand

Traditionally in Celtic Handfastings the marriage knot is used to bind the beloveds hands together with ribbons or cords, hence the saying ‘Tyng the knot’. The Sacred Celebrant at SCA learns the handfasting ceremony with the visually stunning and powerful ritual of the hoop & wand method.

The Bridal Hoop, made from weaving willow into a circlet by the Bride, symbolises the feminine principle in several forms, such as, the Mother line, the womb and the yonic gateway. The Grooms wand, carved by the Groom, symbolises the Masculine principle such as, the Father line & the phallus. These two ritual objects are also miniature representations of the Beltane rites on May 1st of carving the Maypole ( the wand) and the ceremonially prepared entrance created in the land by the May queen (Bridal hoop) joining the marriage of the May King & Queen and so the sacred marriage of the land as the womb Mother, she who is fertile and to be activated by the Maypole phallus with the dance of life weaving the ribbons around the Maypole. As a Sacred Celebrant you are conducting the sacred marriage and union by binding the couples left hands to the hoop & wand with red & white ribbons. The red ribbons represent the menstrual flow, mother line, the white ribbons represent the semen or seed, the ribbons have the same symbolic reference as the Maypole with the ribbon weaving, joining the masculine and feminine energies in the great marriage.

This method is also adjusted to suit same sex handfastings, the two hoops for two Brides and two wands for the Grooms.