Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday...

[Fiddlers Green]

All joking aside, I'm curious, as to the nature of marriages in other religions.
I can follow the line pretty easy for the Abrahamic ones, and have a vague grasp of the Hindu practices, but the rest of us...

Is it for life?
Longer?
Is it spiritual?
Is it blessed by a divinity, or more of a head's up to heaven to let them know what's going on?  

[patch99329]

Not that I am aware of. Although certain family traditions might have their own marriage traditions, it's quite a varied path ^_^

Normally trad witches wedding would be a general handfasting smile Everyone I know has done this.

But I'll go look it up and see if any little traditions do anything different.

*edit*
In addition, as for the spiritual side of things. I think it's down to the individual's opinion, or perhaps their tradition.

Hope that helped a tiny bit...sorry I'm all vague, I don't know much about this sweatdrop  

[TeaDidikai]

Within a cultural context- marriage traditions usually resemble those of the community in which one lives.

My marriage was small. It was packed with symbolism and it was a total disaster.

My vows were simple. We promised to remain together for as long as we both wished it, that we would protect and love one another, give the best of what we had to one another and consider ourselves equals.

When we exchanged rings we gave a gift of ourselves to one another.

The ceremony finished in a very bad way. The minister- in jest, pronounced us "Viking and Thrall" and I was so distracted with everything else- that I didn't care.

Hubby and I are revisiting what we are going to do for our vow renewal. The use of wine, salt and bread will likely still be present- though I may use a melomel instead of a wine or mead.

Bread and Salt are classic symbols of protection and prosperity- which are important enough to have in a wedding. There are cultural sayings that tie women to salt, and the image of a man as a bread winner isn't unheard of.

The wine makes for a wonderful symbol of joy and celebration.

When we hold the party in June, it will likely have a much deeper meaning and I will be far more present than I was for my initial wedding.

As for it being blessed- I would ask the blessing of some gods- but not others. I think the "heads up" approch is a wonderful discription of what happens. Kind of a "Heh heh heh... hey gods- look who I am going to breed with!".  

[maenad nuri]

I'll respond later (legal, but with some religious rituals), but I just wanted to say. My maid of honor said those very words as part of her toast.  

[TeaDidikai]

Nuri

I'll respond later (legal, but with some religious rituals), but I just wanted to say. My maid of honor said those very words as part of her toast.

Bwahahah! Nice.  

[Stargirl_Tasha]

For me...It'll depend.
If the man I marry isn't Pagan...We may just marry in a courtroom. If he is, or decides to be, we may handfast.

My boyfriend isn't Pagan(Agnostic, actualy), and I plan to be with him for a very long time.
If he does become Pagan, then fine. We'll handfast.
If he doesn't, then fine. I'm not gonna force him to become pagan or handfast.


Marriage? It's a contract to stay together with the one you love for as long as you two wish(beyond life even). It could be blessed, but it also could just be a heads up.
"Hey Deitys! I love this man/woman and I want to be with him/her for a very long time and even have kids with him/her!!"  

[TeaDidikai]

Stargirl_tasha

For me...It'll depend.
If the man I marry isn't Pagan...We may just marry in a courtroom. If he is, or decides to be, we may handfast.

My boyfriend isn't Pagan(Agnostic, actualy), and I plan to be with him for a very long time.
If he does become Pagan, then fine. We'll handfast.
If he doesn't, then fine. I'm not gonna force him to become pagan or handfast.


Marriage? It's a contract to stay together with the one you love for as long as you two wish(beyond life even). It could be blessed, but it also could just be a heads up.
"Hey Deitys! I love this man/woman and I want to be with him/her for a very long time and even have kids with him/her!!"

Do you consider there to be a difference between being married and being handfasted?  

[saint dreya]

sadly, due to the eclectic nature of ADF, there is no one set tradition that one can truly follow for marriage customs.

the benefit is that one could potentially write their own ritual for said observance, twisted .

a friend of mine did actually have her marriage in ADF style, and due to her husbands affinity with Norse deities (although he is an atheist), she incorporated more of that style. unfortunately, i was not able to attend, crying  

[Stargirl_Tasha]

TeaDidikai

Stargirl_tasha

For me...It'll depend.
If the man I marry isn't Pagan...We may just marry in a courtroom. If he is, or decides to be, we may handfast.

My boyfriend isn't Pagan(Agnostic, actualy), and I plan to be with him for a very long time.
If he does become Pagan, then fine. We'll handfast.
If he doesn't, then fine. I'm not gonna force him to become pagan or handfast.


Marriage? It's a contract to stay together with the one you love for as long as you two wish(beyond life even). It could be blessed, but it also could just be a heads up.
"Hey Deitys! I love this man/woman and I want to be with him/her for a very long time and even have kids with him/her!!"

Do you consider there to be a difference between being married and being handfasted?

I'm confused now...I thought handfastings WERE Pagan marriages. gonk  

[TeaDidikai]

Stargirl_tasha

I'm confused now...I thought handfastings WERE Pagan marriages. gonk

I always thought marriages were pagan marriages.

Traditional handfastings in the Isles were used as trial marriages- usually to check for a woman's ability to concieve and the like.

Pagan being an umbrella term with a number of different languages used amongst it's population would use the term for marriage in their own language.  

[patch99329]

Plus -in this country at least- a handfasting is not a legal thing.

So when the time comes I want to find a way to combine both. Perhaps have a handfasting with famly and friends attending, and then get legally married in a registry office.  

[TeaDidikai]

patch99329

Plus -in this country at least- a handfasting is not a legal thing.

So when the time comes I want to find a way to combine both. Perhaps have a handfasting with famly and friends attending, and then get legally married in a registry office.

Huh. I thought you were in the US.

It's legal as any other religious ceremony.*


*As it is the state papers that one signs that makes any religious marriage rite "legal"  

[patch99329]

TeaDidikai

patch99329

Plus -in this country at least- a handfasting is not a legal thing.

So when the time comes I want to find a way to combine both. Perhaps have a handfasting with famly and friends attending, and then get legally married in a registry office.

Huh. I thought you were in the US.

It's legal as any other religious ceremony.*


*As it is the state papers that one signs that makes any religious marriage rite "legal"

Nope, UK ^_^  

[TeaDidikai]

patch99329

Nope, UK ^_^

You still have civil marriage there, right?  

[patch99329]

TeaDidikai

patch99329

Nope, UK ^_^

You still have civil marriage there, right?

Yeah we do smile