The Collaborative International Dictionary
handfast \hand"fast`\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. handfasted; p. pr. & vb. n. handfasting.]
To pledge; to bind. [Obs.]
-
To betroth by joining hands, in order to permit cohabitation, before the formal celebration of marriage; in some parts of Scotland it was in effect to marry provisionally, permitting cohabitation for a year, after which the marriage could be formalized or dissolved.
Note: Handfasting was a simple contract of agreement under which cohabitation was permitted for a year, at the end of which time the contract could be either dissolved or made permanent by a formal marriage. Such marriages, at first probably not intended to be temporary, are supposed to have originated in Scotland from a scarcity of clergy, and to have existed at times in other countries.
Wiktionary
n. The ceremony in which people handfast. vb. (present participle of handfast English)
Wikipedia
Handfasting may be:
- a historical term for "betrothal" or "wedding", see history of marriage in Great Britain and Ireland
- a term for "wedding" in Neopaganism, see Handfasting (Neopaganism)
Handfasting is an ancient Irish wedding tradition. Handfasting is an ancient Celtic custom, especially common in Ireland and Scotland, in which a man and woman came together at the start of their marriage relationship.
Usage examples of "handfasting".
I can recall well the day, soon after the handfasting of the peace, when I, the child Queen of Britain, was plauded by the rejoyed Parisians and crowned Queen of France, thereby resuming the lapsed title of my forebears.
Carlina di Asturien looked with distaste on the embroidered veils and the blue velvet over-gown, set with pearls from Temora, that she would wear for the handfasting ceremony.
King Ardrin of Asturias held high festival, for he was handfasting his daughter Carlina to his foster son and nephew, Bard di Asturien, son of his brother, Dom Rafael of High Fens.
It was contagious magic which I used to track Jervon, for about my throat I wore the amulet of a strange stone shaped not unlike an eye, which he had found and carried for a luck piece since he was a boy, and then had put into my keeping upon our handfasting, having in those years of war no other bride-jewel to offer.