Hummusband

Jack has made a discovery: hummus bagels. I know this because all of the hummus and all of the bagels have been slowly disappearing over the past week, stolen away for their chickpea-flour flavor. Jack, confronted by my expert detective skills, reminded me that he had been eating these bagels in front of me for an entire week and that they were, to paraphrase, really, really rad, Katie, you gotta try one.

It's nice having a spouse around. Jack is a cool person with a varied list of interests and talents, some of which include "making phone calls on Kathryn's behalf when she is ill" and "holding guinea pigs" and "brewing really good tea." It's the same as having a BFF who can never escape. I'm resolved now to tell every who asks that the secret of a good marriage is an endless stock of bagels and hummus.

We got our wedding rings at a Renaissance fair, because of course we did. They're handmade from a slightly darker silver, with a simple Celtic design and two pertinent Elder Futhark runes. One of them is Wunjo of Freyr's Ætt, meaning "fellowship" and "prosperity." Another is Ehwaz of Tyr's Ætt, meaning "an ideal marriage" and indicating gradual development and steady progress; this rune also indicates that the meanings of the other runes around it are confirmed beyond a doubt. A third rune from the Younger Futhark collection is found in an Anglo-Saxon poem, where it is given by its Anglo-Saxon name Cen, meaning "torch."

Cen byþ cwicera gehwam, cuþ on fyre blac ond beorhtlic, byrneþ oftust ðær hi æþelingas inne restaþ.

The torch is known to every living man by its pale, bright flame; it always burns where princes sit within.*

I like our rings. I like the nod to Northwestern European cultural history and personal ancestry, both important parts of mine and Jack's heritage. I like the nod to Germano-Celtic pagan religion present for my especial benefit. I like that this ring fits snugly on my finger and is so smooth that it only sometimes needs to come off for sensory reasons. I like that our rings are identical to each other, and that mine is small enough to fit within Jack's: there is something of prophecy there.

And as long as we have bagels and hummus, I'm sure that we will be all right.

- *This translation is given with credit to:

1 | Tineke Looijenga, Texts & contexts of the oldest Runic inscriptions, BRILL, 2003, ISBN 978-90-04-12396-0, p. 129.

2 | The Rune Poems Page.

#marriage #runes