My Blog

Are non-pagan handfastings cultural appropriation?

multicoloured handfasting ribbon with leaves and cord in bright orange foliage by Photography by Nadina Bee for the blog are non-pagan handfastings cultural appropriation

Are non-pagan handfastings ok or are they cultural appropriation?

Are handfastings always a pagan wedding? And is it cultural appropriation to hold a non-pagan handfasting?

Now there is a can of worms!

Shall we open it???

It’s like a childhood game of dare. Let’s do it!

Is a handfasting always a Pagan wedding?

So you can definitely have a Pagan handfasting, but can you have a handfasting that is not Pagan?

The expression handfasting describes the tying together of the couple’s hands during the wedding ceremony and the rituals that follow while their hands are still tied.

You can include as many and as few Pagan rituals as you like into your own handfasting. Tying the hands in a great, visual way to illustrate a couple’s union into their wedding. Andy many would like to have it as part of their ceremony, but without any spiritual or religious connotations. Is this acceptable?

Are non-pagan handfastings cultural appropriation?

I am taking a purely logic view derived from history on this. Other Pagans might take a different stance.

We know that handfastings still took place in Shakespeare’s days, when European Pagans had been thoroughly Christianised – officially at least.

Any handfasting rituals conducted at the end of the middle ages, will undeniable have been changed from the previous Pagan ceremonies in order to be at all acceptable, permissible and most importantly legal in a country with a Christian state church.

The handfasting rituals we have today, are pieced together from patchy, sometimes unreliable, historical records. The gaps have been filled in since interest in Paganism was revived during the Victorian period.

Hence, a lot of our Pagan handfasting rituals today, are modern best guesses at what our Pagan ancestors’ ceremonies were like.

Taking into account the patchiness of historic records, and considering that these ancestors were the ancestors of all of us, I don’t think we can claim having a ribbon tied around your hands to show your union in a non-Pagan ceremony is as such cultural appropriation.

However, invoking deities and spirits during your handfasting that are not part of your spiritual or religious practice would be inappropriate and would be cultural appropriation.

If you would like to find out more about the history of handfasting, please check out my blog The History of Handfasting.

Where I stad on pagan and non-pagan handfastings

As you can see, I don’t see a problem with the rise in non-Pagan handfastings.

Non-Pagans borrowing something from Pagan traditions can only help to overcoming the many misconceptions and unfounded fears that many people still seem to hold.

I am happy to photograph your handfasting regardless of your spiritual or religious practice. Or if you have neither.
It’s your day, make it your own! And let’s celebrate together.

If you would like a photographer who knows their way around a handfasting, this way making sure no important moments are missed, get in touch via my Contact Form.

Bright blessings,