Thursday, January 21, 2010

How 'Tying The Knot' came to Be Used for consummating a marriage?

Even in Countries, where the bride or groom don't 'tie a knot' in marriage, this expression is in use. What does this really mean? What is the 'knot' %26amp; Who is 'tying' it? why not 'ringing' the ring-finger for the successful completion of the wedding?How 'Tying The Knot' came to Be Used for consummating a marriage?
The act of saying vows is not considered the consummation in marriage. It is not until after the vows are said and the couple have intimate acts that consummation occurs. This is generally why if a couple says ';I Do'; then don't sleep together for whatever reason, they can see about having the marriage dissolved if it was not meant to be. However, after the marriage is consummated, to dissolve the formal ties that connect the couple, divorce is the option in that case. The phrase ';Tying the Knot'; has to do with ceremonial origins where the bride and grooms hands were tied with rope during the ceremony. Today, you may see priest place a sash around their hands rather than rope. Through the years, ';Tying the Knot'; since associated with wedding ceremonies, has changed meaning. Today we tell someone that we are ';Tying the Knot'; as a way of telling them that we are to be married. It has nothing to do with the actual wedding ring. The ring itself is a separate item that symbolizes the bond in marriage.How 'Tying The Knot' came to Be Used for consummating a marriage?
MARRIGES R LIKE KNOTS U TIE IT AND PRAY FOR ITS STRENGTH
The expression ';tying the knot'; is an old holdover from ancient marriage rites where a cord would be used to bind the weddeds' hands together by the officient. A knot would be tied in the cord to keep the 2's hands bound together. After the ceremony, the cord would then be hung over the hearth to symbolise the union. Hence, 'tying the knot'.
This custom or expression actually dates back as far as the Pagen times before ';organized'; church weddings. The priest would literally ';Tie'; a rope around the couples right hands to bond them together symbolically for life.





In modern times, in some churches the priest will take a sash of some kind and drape it over the right hands of the couple as they light the unity candle and say their vows.
The expression ';tying the knot'; actually dates back to Roman Times when the bride wore a girdle secured by a knot. On the wedding night, the groom then had the honors of ';untying the knot.'; The couple's lives were then tied together. Rituals of binding were also popular in ancient Carthage. The couple's thumbs were laced together with a strip of leather. In India, the Hindu groom knotted a ribbon around his bride's neck, and once tied, the marriage was legal and binding. For much of history the rope was the most powerful way to connect things and people. So, it made sense to talk about ';tying the knot.';
I just recently listened to a presentation on fashion. I learned that in ancient cultures, the clothing of the bride and groom-to-be were literally tied together. It was their job during the ceremony to untie it together. If they could get through that challenge, it was symbolic of the fact that they would be able to survive other challenges that their married life might bring them. Though in many cultures the literal tying of the knot has not survived, the saying has.
because it is the equivalent of tying the noose knot, in reference to hanging

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