moronqueen
2005-06-11 01:43 pm UTC (link)

So I'm getting married in August.
To a Catholic.
Yup.

Goood luck...I wish you a not so long winded pastor if ya go that route...but then the only weddings with Catholic bits in 'em I've been to were exclusively Catholic. My thighs still hurt from sitting down then standing up so much.

Have any of you witnessed a pagan/wiccan/shamanic wedding?

Mine, small as it was, was pretty much Pagan. I kept most God/dess stuff out of it, as hubby's an atheist. I wrote our vows, and we did a hand-fasting, which the reverand had to be taught how to do. Wrote about the cycle of life, and how it's unbroken, like the rings we were exchanging (...even though I ended up using a toe ring with a gap at the bottom 'cause the real one didn't get there in time *G*).

My mom and brother-in-law had Native poems read at both of theirs...and they both, along with my sister, had Unity Candles lit, which has undertones of candle-magic, which none of them, save for mebbe my mom, knew anything about. That's an option, just a lil' too common for my tastes.

What about other life-cycle rites (coming-of-age, child-birth, funeral, etc.)

I've been to a Souix Naming Ceremony before...unfortuneately, I can't remember much because I was half-concious through the majorty of it due to hayfever. >_< All I do remember is being told I can do whatever I want, so long as I stay away from the tall grass because there're rattle snakes, and wrestling with the kids who were the honored ones there...and their parents being afraid they were gonna hurt me. *G*

What do you think about the "traditional" trappings of, say, Wiccan weddings - handfasting, broom-jumping, etc. What other life-cycle ritual traditions can you think of?

It's right for some, but not for others...There's one I read about ages ago, where the bride and the groom have a circlet of flowers made for them, and the circlets're attatched to each other by lengths of ribbon. The person performing the ceremony switches the circlets when saying something about their lives now being bound or something...can't really remember. Catholics have something similar, but with a rosary, where it's draped over the bride and groom, signifying their unity in life. Not sure if it's all Catholics or just Mexicans, as I'd never heard of it until a Mexican co-worker told me about it.

Have you given any thoughts to what you might like to do, should you ever want to "tie-the-knot"?
Already covered. ;) I have more ideas, but don't feel like listing 'em, atm. *G* May do it in an entry, later.

I'm very curious to hear stories or even just philosophical ramblings on this topic - as a solitary witch, this is one of those areas where being well-read doesn't really enlighten me. I haven't had the experience of attending any special events.
I'll send you a copy of our vows, if ya want. Not super great, but it's an idea.

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the peanut gallery speaks.

celtic_ankh
2005-06-12 10:14 am UTC (link)

Congrats, first of all. May your embarassing relatives keep their mouths shut for the duration of the ceremony. (Standard wedding prayer, that one.)

My mother's second wedding had vaguely pagan undertones - they did that unity candle thing, and after the Christian relatives had gone home my step-father insisted on jumping over a broom. (He's not pagan in the slightest, but he said since he was marrying a witch it was the right thing to do.)

What we really wanted to do would have involved Egyptian togas, water lillies, torches, me with a minister's license, and probably painting my stepfather green. So we wound up not going that route.

All the other weddings I've been to have been pretty standard. Some friends of our who are Wiccan got handfasted, but I missed that event.

My best friend is Christian, and she's confided in me that she always thought the Jewish glass-stomping thing was a wonderful wedding ritual. Hilarious, too.

What do you think about the "traditional" trappings of, say, Wiccan weddings - handfasting, broom-jumping, etc.

I figure if you follow those traditions then they work for you. I wouldn't do em myself, but that's because to me they're pretty much meaningless.

What other life-cycle ritual traditions can you think of?

Getting rat-assed drunk remains a ritual for all major life-cycle events.

Have you given any thoughts to what you might like to do, should you ever want to "tie-the-knot"?

Sorry, no - I'm not the marrying type. The only thing I think we ever decided I would do if I somehow got hit on the head hard enough to change my mind is that the music for the march down the aisle would be Temple of Love by the Sisters. And no friggin white dress.

- N

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	Re: the peanut gallery speaks. moronqueen 2005-06-12 04:28 pm UTC (link)
	Getting rat-assed drunk remains a ritual for all major life-cycle events. Hah! So very true... sniggers (Reply to this) (Parent)

marquis86
2005-06-27 07:04 pm UTC (link)

Hellooo! :)
Good luck with that! :)
My mum and step-dad had a handfasting about three years ago :p Niether of them are actually religious but they kind of pick parts out of paganism and buddhism :p It was a really nice wedding :p It was in Scotland in the middle of nowhere in a tiny chapel-type building owned by Billy Connolly! :) He bought it shortly after the wedding though, so it didn't put the price up, hehe! :) But yeah, it was nice and I had to do the thing where you put the material over their hands and my mum had this gorgeous long dark green medieval dress and looked beautiful :p Much nicer than a church wedding :p

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