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Post Info TOPIC: Wedding at Toward Castle
Knockdow


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Wedding at Toward Castle
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Not one of our clan but a handfasting wedding was held at Toward

 from Dunoon Observer newspaper

Tying the knot – Druid style
When the telephone call arrived last week, my initial reaction was to inwardly snort derisively. The caller, a sister of the bride, said: “There’s a pagan wedding, or handfasting, ceremony taking place on Saturday and I wondered if the paper would be interested.”
As I say, my first response was to categorise the whole thing as mumbo jumbo which would no doubt be populated by wierdy beardies and delegates with sandals - not to diminish the significance of the marriage ceremony, of course. While the conversation continued, my journalistic antennae, such as they are, began to twitch and curiosity overcame my prejudice. This type of event doesn’t happen every day, so I agreed that we would try to get ‘someone’ to the ceremony at Castle Toward - none too keen however to take on the assignment myself.
The promised ‘someone’ turned out to be yours truly (amazingly, every one of my dear colleagues had pressing engagements elsewhere), and on pulling into the car park at Castle Toward it was apparent that there was a wedding under way, but the guests were dressed in conventional suits, ties, wedding outfits and hats.
Surely I must be at the wrong place.
Hmm...I asked the nearest suited gentleman, and as I approached, noticed that he was standing beside someone dressed less conservatively, with a pony tail, which was reassuring. The two men confirmed that this was indeed the correct place and time. Not a sandal in sight; perhaps it was time to start revising my preconceptions.
The bride, dressed in white with a green cloak, was accompanied by her groom in tartan trews, and the couple were piped to the gardens, where a circle of druids awaited. Druids; now this was more like it, and my prejudices reasserted themselves.
To someone brought up in the Church of Scotland, I must confess that many of the proceedings appeared alien and - though it is hard to define - vaguely threatening as they began. But not for long, as the ceremony ultimately proved to be completely fascinating, with a charm and humanity which I have rarely experienced.
Keeping as open a mind as I am ever able to keep, I watched as the wedding guests formed a circle around the couple, before the bride and groom-to-be approached druids placed in the four quarters of north, south, east and west to receive blessings from each, and the handfasting ceremony followed.
Conducting proceedings was a registered celebrant, who is able to perform marriage ceremonies which not only satisfy druid custom, but also Scots law. A marriage performed in this way is as legal in Scotland - unique in the countries of the UK - as any other.
All in all, I found the whole ceremony, timed to coincide with the summer solstice, strangely genuine - if that makes sense. Though this correspondent does not pretend to be particularly attuned to these things, there was a palpable peace and spirituality surrounding the handfasting ritual.
The whole event, even to a layman, was clearly a compromise for the assembled guests - a slightly watered-down version of druidism. But it was fascinating nonetheless to witness the type of wedding ritual which may have deep roots in our society, perhaps going back many centuries to pre-Christian times.
Some, with stronger faith than me, might rail against the entire system of druidism and similar pagan beliefs. For me, there is more to be gained by listening to the thoughts of followers of any belief system. We may not agree with every aspect of their views, but society must surely be enriched by greater understanding.
We wish the bride, Maria McNeill (or Aria, to use her druid name), and groom Alastair Graham (not a follower of druidism himself) the very best for the future, and I would like to thank them for sharing their special day with the readers of Dunoon Observer and Argyllshire Standard.
Have I use the word fascinating yet? Who cares, I’ll use it again – it was, genuinely.

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Drac


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I am glad there are people like you who can go to this ceremony and come away with an understanding and (from the sound of it) some respect for others beliefs. You would be surprised how many people who would cause a seen or otherwise ruin the mood for what should be a very happy time for the couple.

Being Pagan and having been to a couple Pagan weddings I can understand some people fear at what it can be like. A military unit I served with was 1/3 pagan so things could be interesting at times.

If you take a look you will see many of the same things, in slightly different forms mind you, as a standard wedding. There will be a welcome, a definition to all of what this ceremony means, an exchange of vows, a challenge of some form, a blessing and than a confirmation of the union.

The challenge is on thing that can really surprise people. In a Christian ceremony there are normally 3, do you take this man, do you take this woman and does anyone object. One wedding I went to the challenge was to offer the bride and groom a reason to not marry. The bride was offer to be taken care of so she would not feel the need to go into the marriage to just have a home. The groom was offer, well this is a public form, lets just call it an enticement.

Jim

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Knockdow


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Drac wrote:

I am glad there are people like you who can go to this ceremony and come away with an understanding and (from the sound of it) some respect for others beliefs.

Jim I did not make it very clear, the article is not mine. That is the reporter for the Dunoon newspaper. His/Her name was not mentioned on the online. My apologies to not have made this clear. I am a good cut n' paster wink

personally I find other religion ceremonies to be interesting to observe. I always wonder how did this or that tradition get started. Your own religion you never question..it is just expected and we follow with question.

My main reason to post this article was that somebody used Toward Castle ruins for a wedding.

 



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George Young
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http://www.lamont-young.com/lamont/
Clan Lamont Society -  both Scotland & USA
EoinDubh


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Knockdow - I believe that they most probably were not using the ruins. There is a "Castle Toward" manor house that at one tome was a school, with gardens and lawns that is a popular wedding destination. It is not far from the ruins and is where you are directed if you ask for Castle Toward.

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Drac


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-- Edited by Drac on Friday 10th of July 2009 09:47:22 AM

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