How to Choose a Date for Your Handfasting
There are a lot of things to consider when you choose a date for your handfasting. So here are the three main steps to help you decide on a date for your handfasting:
- You could just choose a date that is practical. Choose a date for your handfasting that will make it easy for your guests to travel and easy for you to plan, or because your favourite venue is available on that date.
- You can get handfast on a date that means something personal to you, like an anniversary.
- Or you could choose a date, that means something to you spiritually.
What basis should you choose a date for your handfasting on?
Which one of the three options you go for his entirely up to you. And sometimes things just work themselves out. Like for us.
We started off looking at practical dates. Having guests arrive from all over Europe, we were very restricted on which dates people could actually come.
Taking into account varying school holidays and work commitments etc. there were only two possible dates in the whole year that were possible, one of which was the anniversary of our first date. And, of course, that’s the date we tied the knot on!
First of all you need to know your priorities before you choose a date for your handfasting. What is most important to you? Is it the season? Is it the weather? Is it the personal significance of a date? Or is it a spiritual significance?
This bit I really, can’t help you with because it’s very personal. But if you decide that spiritual significance is important, I can talk you through a few dates.
Handfasting dates in accordance with the Moon Phases
For many witches and wiccans, the moon phases, and the energies that flow with it, can be way more important than the big holidays when choosing a date.
If this is you, consider what energy you would like from the moon presiding over your handfasting as a way to choose a date for your handfasting.
A full moon amplify the energy you bring to your handfasting.
A new moon or waxing moon will signify a new beginning and help you grow into the new phase of your life.
A waning moon will leave the old, pre-handfast period of your life, behind.
Handfasting dates in accordance with the Wheel of the Year
In this section I am sharing some thoughts on the big (and small) holidays and how you might want to consider them when you choose a date for your handfasting. All dates are relevant to the norther hemisphere.
Imbolc, 1 February
The festival of the goddess Bride and the time when you will start seeing snowdrops break through the frozen ground and the snow. It is the first visible signs of spring.
A beautiful and strong symbolic time of the year, but if you want to have an outdoor ceremony, consider that the ground might get soggy and muddy.
Spring equinox, Ostara, 21 March
Not a major holiday in the pagan calendar. However, it is noteworthy for being one of the days of equal length and it falls into a period of renewal. It is also still a spring date and with more flowers now out, nature will make a beautiful backdrop of renewal and new life for your handfasting.
Beltane, 1 May
Beltane is the beginning of summer. It celebrates love and new beginnings, and with that it’s most certainly a good date for a handfasting. It is also a festival with lots of fire. So if you want to jump the fire as part of your celebration, then it is certainly an great date to chose.
Summer solstice, 21 June
The summer solstice is the longest day of the year and a main point in the pagan calendar. The amount of sunlight filling this day is magical in itself, and I don’t think it needs any further explanation why this is a beautiful date for a handfasting.
Lammas, 1 August
The harvest festival. Celebrating fruitfulness and fertility it makes for an obvious choice for a handfasting, especially if you wish for children.
But it is also in the middle of summer, and the weather is usually nice wherever you are.
Autumn equinox, 21 September
As well as celebrating harvest home, this equinox also falls into a time of of great change. It’s a time of waning rather than growth, a time of taking anything unwanted away. So if you wish to leave an old chapter of your life behind and mark your new beginning with your handfasting, then autumn equinox might be a good choice.
And if you work the land, then the relation to harvest home might carry significance for you to choose a date for your handfasting.
Samhain, 31 October
Very popular for goth handfastings. The veil between the worlds of the living, and the dead is thinning. It is the season to honour the ancestors. What better date to tie the knot than when the whole town is decorated in your style!
Apart from that, samhain is considered by modern pagans as the start of the new year, so perfect to choose a date for your handfasting and start a new chapter of your life even if you’re not a goth.
Winter solstice, 21 December
A major turning point on the wheel of the year. A celebration of the light and the goddess returning, of the days getting longer, and of the weather getting warmer.
A happy occasion and most certainly a magical time for a handfasting.
Final thoughts on how to choose a date for your handfasting
Before you choose a date for your handfasting, think about how your handfasting will look.
If you’re thinking of an outdoor ceremony and your preferred date falls into the colder half of the year, consider whether this might actually be nice for everybody attending, or whether in your region everyone will just get frozen solid or be wading through mud.
In spring and autumn consider the mud.
And in summer, consider the possible heat.
All of these potential problems can be mitigated, you just need to plan for them.
I can’t tell you, which date best to choose for your handfasting.
In fact how to choose a date for a handfasting is a very personal choice, depending on your and your guests’ requirements. All I can do is give you points to consider when making the decision.
I hope you found this helpful in choosing a date for your handfasting.
If you would like to see my other blogs to help you plan your handfasting, please see my other handfasting blogs.
And follow me on social media (links in the footer) to be notified, when my new blog is out.
Bright blessings,
Handfasting Photographer UK and EU
