Press Release: Handfastings at the Black Mountain Celtic Fest

Year-and-a-Day Handfastings at the Celtic Festival in Black Mountain

on June 19th, 2010



For Immediate Release, June 2, 2010, Asheville, NC: Kindra Phillips of Gaia's Handfasting (www.gaiashandfasting.com)

will be performing Year-and-a-Day Handfastings at the WNC Highland Celtic Festival (www.celticheritageproductions.com/wnc.htm) being held at Pisgah Brewing Company (www.pisgahbrewing.com) in Black Mountain on June 19th, 2010.



The phrase "Tie the knot" comes from the ancient Celtic tradition of handfasting. During a typical ceremony, the couple's hands were bound with a cord as they made their promises to one another. The "year-and-a-day" mythology reads that couples were bound with a handfasting cord in a heart-binding ceremony and had a year to decide if they wished to make their coupling permanent. These days a handfasting can be performed in place of, or with a typical wedding ceremony, blending the traditional with the unique.



Handfastings will be conducted under the trees on Saturday, June 19th, starting at 11am. Kindra is providing a basic cord with ceremony and certificate starting at $35. All couples welcome regardless of age or gender. Although Kindra is an ordained minister, these unions will not be legally binding. If you wish to be legally bound at the festival please contact Kindra Phillips at 828-670-1768 ASAP to coordinate your custom ceremony in time.



Kindra and has been performing binding ceremonies and designing handfasting cords since 2005. From her online store, she has sold custom cords to customers all over the world. She designs cord styles to fit every belief and budget. Cords range from $20 and up in the hundreds depending on how elaborate a cord and the types of materials involved in creating it. Please visit: www.gaiashandfasting.com for more information about her products and services.



This is the first annual WNC Highland Celtic Festival being held at the Pisgah Brewing Company, located at 150 Eastside Drive, Black Mountain, NC. The festival will take place the weekend of June 18th & 19th.

Get ye to the village square

Mailed off my application for Bele Chere today. If you are unfamiliar with it, Bele Chere is the biggest free outdoor street festival in the Southeast. This year it falls on July 23rd-25th, with estimated attendance to be between 300,000-350,000 people. I am very excited and anxious to see if my application will be accepted. I hope to be able to not only sell my cords, but perform year and a day style handfastings at the festival. These are the photos I included with my application, hoping this was a decent representation of my designs.


For the booth during the festival, I am hoping to have flowers and vines and many more cords on display.






Get ye to the village square,
to tie the knot with lady fair.

Handfastings in the News

I recently dug up these stories about handfastings, enjoy!

(Not Quite) Out to Pasture: Knocking down walls Not really a story about handfasting but a statement on our unjust marriage laws:

I mean we’ve been a couple for almost eighteen years and the ceremony we had two summers back, a Neo-pagan hand fasting ritual, was really only something we did for ourselves. But I will never give up my opinion that everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, should be allowed to wed if they wish to.

For Heathen's Sake A love story from Maryland...with pictures:

the couple exchange vows in a 20-minute ceremony in an outdoor pavilion that combined Christian rituals -- the unity candle -- with pagan traditions, such as handfasting, an ancient practice in which the couple's wrists are bound with a rope.

Unconventional Wedding The reporter of this piece should be flogged for every bad Halloween pun:

Even conventional weddings can scare the hair off a black cat.

Bridesmaids' gowns tend toward terrifying. Anxious grooms resemble zombies.

And the parents of the bride can turn ghostly pale contemplating the tab.... on Halloween 2009, Roanoke residents ... were married in Fishburn Park in a Pagan and Wiccan handfasting ceremony.

Couple Tie Knot, See U2, Meet Bono only in Vegas...not sure why they put handfasting in quotation marks...but whatever:

...they incorporated some Celtic tradition into the ceremony, specifically "handfasting," where the bride's and groom's wrists are, literally, tied together (thus, the expression, "tying the knot").

...and then there's your standard newspaper wedding announcement I love this part:

...married on June 21, 2009, in an ancient Celtic hand fasting ceremony under a tree that resembled the tree of life...

Recent designs, thoughts and musings

There is something so powerful and yet so soft to this leather. The Lover's Celtic Knot charm at the center is quite popular.

I love the wooden heart-shaped earth at the center of this cord I just added to the store. The base of this cord is a soft, sage-colored cording and it is wrapped with gold and hand-dyed silk trim. I lined the cord with Mother of Pearl gemstone chips.

The Hunter's or Blood moon has continued to dazzle me this month...even as she wanes.


The rains, missing last year, brought needed sustenance to these parched mountains. With the rain, came a vast assortment of mushrooms scattered throughout our newly acquired piece of Earth.



Fall is so beautiful up here in the Appalachian Mountains. The colors are exceptionally vibrant this year, so vibrant they helped to inspire this custom designed cord.

Merry May...

Recent Designs...

2009 Recent Creations

Ivory cording woven with silver trim form
the base of this simple cord. The ends have
amethyst strands anchored with pentacles.



This Special Cord has a wide weave base
with strands of amethyst and jade.



This is a simple four cord set made with
ribbon and lightly lined with gemstones.



A special order shadowbox with an invitation framed with
ribbon and cording.



White, silver and red cording and trim are
woven together with an entwined lovers
at the center. Strands of clear quartz and
moonstone anchor each end.


Thank you for looking at my recent custom cords. I would love to design one for you!!

Recent Offerings

Some of September's Custom Orders

Black, cream, gold, and blue cording are
woven together to create this beautiful cord.
The Lovers Entwined symbol at the center
brings meaning to the couple.



A wide leather strip forms the base of this
unique cord. Wrapped with burgandy, ivory,
and gold ribbon, the mother of pearl gemstone
chips add a nice touch.



Emerald, sapphire and silver cording and
ribbon woven together with elaborate
gemstone beading. Bolo tips finish the ends
and a sterling silver infinity is attached at
the center.



A black and green Celtic Jacquard ribbon
woven with green ribbon and trim with a
pewter tree of life at the center.



Five strands of ivory and cream ribbon,
cording, and trim are woven together with
sterling silver hearts along the cord.

The Past Month's Creations

A four cord set in light pinks and yellow over
a Celtic Jacquard ribbon. Each cord has
appropriate charms and gemstones to
represent each of the four elements.




All purple and ivory ribbons, this cord is a
celestial beauty.




This cord, with elaborate gemstone beading
is made with all cording in shades of pink,
silver, and dark blue.




A combination of cording, trim and ribbon,
This cord has bolo tips and mother of pearl
gemstone beading.




To celebrate the union of the Lord and Lady,
This cord has a Celtic Jacquard ribbon base
with a combination of organza and satin ribbon
woven with a braided trim.

Summer Loving

I've been very busy with orders coming in from around the US and one from Canada. Here are some of my recent designs.


A delicate pink, white and silver handfasting
cord made from cording with loose ends.



A three cord set made with a ribbon base and
braided trim.



This on was a first for me. An all ribbon cord
with bolo tips. I think it gives it a nice look.



A six cord set made with ribbon and cording.

Tartans Abound This Spring

This cord was designed with fabric depicting
their clan's family tartan.



A cord made with a combination of ribbon
and a woven cord. Mother of Pearl lines the
length of the cord.



A simple all ribbon cord in hunter green and
deep blue. With a triskel at the center in
sterling silver, lapis dots the length of the
cord.



A four cord set made to represent the four
elements; earth, air, fire, and water.



This special cord, designed around their
family tartan, is made with elements the
couple chose themselves including guitar
strings.

Recent Designs

Tis the season to tie the knot

The wedding season is under way and I find myself already behind. I currently have seven orders and another handful of pending orders. Here are some of my recent designs.