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The Daily Insight

What do the colors mean in handfasting cords?

Author

Mia Phillips

Updated on March 03, 2026

Handfasting Cords For a three-cord handfasting colored cords are often braided: White for purity, blue for fidelity, and red for passion, for instance. You may choose to use other colors; for example, green for fertility and growth, purple for spiritual strength, and gold for wisdom.

How long should a handfasting ribbon be?

Your cord should be long enough to loop over both wrists as well as being able to make the knots. We’ve read that if you are using a single cord, that a generic rule of length is ideally no less than 6 feet.

How many cords do you need for handfasting?

Use 1 cord or as many as 13 cords – whatever feels right to the couple. 1, 3, and 6 cords are most common. Using a rope-style cord tied into a beautiful Celtic knot makes a beautiful display during the ceremony.

How do you tie an Irish wedding knot?

During the ritual, the couple holds hands, right hand in right hand, and left hand in left with their wrists crossed. A ribbon or cord is then wrapped around their wrists in a figure 8, signifying infinity. Many people say this is where the saying “tying the knot” originated from.

How to make a handfasting cord?

Gather the Materials. The cord consists of three 6-foot sections of material braided together.

  • Making the Cord. Evenly gather the ends of the three cords and tie a knot leaving a 4- to 5-inch tail.
  • Create a Binding Cloth. A binding cloth offers an alternative to the handfasting cord,but is made and used in the same way.
  • Other Considerations.

    • How to perform a handfasting ceremony?

    Ask the couple to hold one of each other’s hands – the hands farthest away from the officiant as they face each other.

  • Drape the ribbon or cord over their clasped hands.
  • Say a few words (see the sample below).
  • Loop each end of the ribbon or cord over their hands once,then tie a knot underneath their hands.

    • How to make handfasting ribbon?

    To make the cords,I used six yards of 5mm satin ribbon and one skein of embroidery floss for each cord.

  • Cut off about 24″ of floss from each skein,being careful to leave the rest of the skein looped.
  • Cut your skein of floss roughly in half. It doesn’t have to be perfect,you’ll neaten the edges later.
  • Take the length of your ribbon and fold it neatly in half — this will be tricky because the ribbon is so long,just remember that “neat” is
  • Now you’ll take one of the free edges of the ribbon and insert it into the loop that you’ve made with your tassel.
  • Then make a loop in the other ribbon half,and poke the edge of that loop through the first loop. Tighten,repeat.
  • Catch the remaining half of your embroidery floss in your ribbon and loop as usual.
  • Cut your reserved length of embroidery floss in half.
  • Tie the reserved floss around your tassel. For the end bit,make sure to conceal the knotted ribbon inside the tassel.
  • Do this with both edges and ta-da! You’re finished! Now you may,or may not,chose to do another cord.

    • What is a hand-fasting ceremony?

    What is handfasting? The short answer to this question is: a handfasting is a component of a wedding ceremony which entails gently wrapping cords around the bride and groom’s

  • Is it a legal marriage? The handfasting ritual can be incorporated into any wedding ceremony,just as can the ring exchange.
  • Do you have to be Wiccan to have a handfasting?

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