Handfasting has its roots in Celtic tradition, the most common being the Year and A Day commitment ceremony. Originally, this was a time for couples to get to know each other by living together and deciding if they wanted to spend their lives together. If a pregnancy resulted from it, the handfasting became a legal marriage.

Today we have ways to prevent an unintended pregnancy and not everyone doing this is of an age where such a thing would even be possible. Still, it is something more committed than just “living together” or even being engaged without living together. The custom is very common among Pagans, many of whom are poly.

We will also discuss handfasting as one method of making a commitment to someone you are adding to your marriage in a serious way. Such a relationship may look like an open committed legal marriage between two people or a plural marriage by contract with similar rights and responsibilities to a legal marriage. SF books such as The Avatar by Poul Anderson and Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover novels are full of Celtic delights.

We will enjoy corn beef and cabbage for our potluck lunch and Irish music in our clothing-optional hot tub.