The voice of conscious weddings for almost thirty years, wedding folklorist and costume historian Cornelia Powell now creates an anthology for gay and lesbian couples. Here is ''The Handkerchief Has Been Thrown! Something Old & Something New for Same-Sex Couples ~ Musings on Love, Weddings & Handkerchiefs.''
Historically, the handkerchief has long “represented the bond between lovers.” So using it as her muse for this book, Cornelia wraps her stories with bits of wedding folklore, fashion fancy and ritual wisdom then moves us beyond romance and ceremony into ways that open hearts.
In the author’s unique way of storytelling, the book is full of tales like the seductive language of flowers and the princely charm of pocket squares, but it also shares the underlying magic of the wedding rite-of-passage. Plus…
• it entices with stories of sensuous pre-wedding rituals of fragrant, healing baths in ancient Greece (and why today’s brides and grooms should do the same) and what love-tokens you really ought to be tossing at your wedding reception;
• it tells how romantics throughout history flirted with a well-placed hanky, yet offers endearing ways to use handkerchiefs at a wedding;
• it explains why we have kings and troubadours to thank for our modern notion of “amour” as well as why surrendering to love is a sign of strength;
• it even shares the benefits of taking deep, languid breaths because the more at ease a person’s body, mind and spirit the more loving their relationships;
• the book discloses how not to fall into the cookie-cutter, commercial-formula trap of mainstream weddings, but instead become a trailblazer in bringing intimacy back to wedding celebrations;
• it reveals tips from “don’t go down the aisle without a serviceable hanky” to the secrets of how to keep your heart open in a less than agreeable world;
• and now that marriage is more available for same-sex couples, the book encourages devoted couples to be leaders in creating a new archetype of marriage—one of “spiritual partnership.”
In compiling this anthology—selecting bits from her books and blogs, favorite essays and articles, adding new insights and observations—Cornelia shares conversations about our currently changing social culture. She asks: “If marriage is said to add strength for the social good—yet is a social structure that’s been deteriorating of late—why not include all couples in on re-building the viability of this institution?”
As one reviewer commented: “Who knew something as practical as the handkerchief could be so thought-provoking, entertaining, mysterious—even sexy?”