Handfasting

Among the customs now obsolete, one of the most curious was that of handfasting, in use about a century ago all over Scotland.

In the upper part of Eskdale, at the confluence of the white and the black Esk, was held an annual fair, where multitudes of each sex repaired. The unmarried looked out for mates, made their engagement by joining hands, or by “handfasting “, went off in pairs, cohabited until the next annual return of the fair, appeared there again, and then were at liberty to declare their approbation or dislike of each other.

If each party continued constant, the handfasting was
renewed for life; but if either party dissented, the engagement was void, and both were at full liberty to make a new choice, but with this proviso, that the inconstant was to take the charge of the offspring of the year of probation.

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