Irish season for love: Harvest hand-fasting and Matchmaking
Written by Ciaran on Aug. 22, 2025 | 0 Comments
You may well be familiar with the term "summer romance," but in Ireland, autumn is truly the time for “Falling” - in love, that is! Love is in the air at this time of year in Ireland. It's one of our most popular times of the year to get married, and it seems to be a tradition with deep roots!
Read on to find out how romance is tied to the harvest in Ireland through hand fasting and matchmaking, and why Autumn is the season of love.
With spectacular castles and scenery, we would argue Ireland is a pretty romantic place year-round. But it seems to step up a gear in Autumn!
Falling for Autumn
Traditionally a time of harvest and bounty, it's not hard to see why autumn is a season for love in Ireland. With the darker evenings creeping in, having someone to cosy up with and share the spoils of a summer's hard work is undoubtedly appealing. After all, the way to most people's hearts is through their stomach!
Photo Credit: Bernie Brown
A Season for Love
In the time before industrialisation, bringing in the harvest and the many, many celebrations and festivals that followed would have brought people together in large numbers.
Before online dating and swiping right, outside of the harvest festivals or fairs and the odd wedding or funeral, there would have been little opportunity for people even to encounter others their own age, never mind dreaming of romance! This meant that Autumn became one of the most important times for our ancestors to meet their match.
Agricultural fairs are still a staple of the autumn calendar in Ireland.
Photo Credit: V. Lowsley
Irish Harvest Knots
At harvest festivals, prospective couples would often commit to a sort of trial marriage. Lasting a year and a day, these trials and could be ended the following year or made permanent for those who had forged a strong bond, leading to a tradition of autumn marriages and engagements.
Irish Handfasting
Braided straw tokens called 'Harvest Knots' were often exchanged between sweethearts as as a token of love. This ritual is echoed in the ancient tradition of hand-fasting, popular in wedding ceremonies to this day.
Irish Matchmaking
Many romantic couples would pair up just fine on their own. But some were made with the assistance of an official "matchmaker" - a person tasked with assessing a couple's compatibility and sounding out the two families for a solid alliance.
With over 100 entries about matchmakers in the National Folklore archives, we can see that this was a widespread custom. In the 19th century, these matchmakers were typically a local person, often known to the family.
However, this tradition was fading by the middle of the 20th century, with the 1997 movie "The Matchmaker" poking fun at what seemed to be a dying art. With the advent of Bumble, Tinder, Match.com, and the like, you could be forgiven for thinking that technology would be the final nail in the coffin for matchmaking.
But those who call time on matchmaking in the age of the app might be doing so prematurely! With glossy new Hollywood movies like The Materialists celebrating matchmaking, and a Matchmaker finding partners for farmers at the largest harvest festival in Ireland, it seems there is still space for this tradition both here in Ireland and overseas. And of course, those looking for the services of a third-generation Irish matchmaker need only get themselves to Lisdonvarna in September!
Photo Credit: Jennifer Boyer (CC BY 2.0)
Europe's largest matchmaking festival
Each September, the tiny village of Lisdoonvarna in Co. Clare welcomes people from all over Ireland - and sometimes much farther afield - to the month-long festivities of Europe’s largest matchmaking festival. It remains the place to be for those looking for fun, friendship and perhaps their perfect match with the festival's invitation to 'meet, match and make a life.' Many take up the invitation, with upwards of 20,000 people attending in any given year.
Dancing at the 1964 matchmaking festival at Lisdoonvarna
The origins of the Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking festival
The local story goes that the matchmaking festival in Lisdoonvarna owes its existence to the healing waters of several natural spas in the area. In the 1800s, people would travel to the town to recuperate after the harvest and “take the waters”, which were rich in sulphur and iron and reportedly good for all manner of ailments.
This saw the population of the town swell each September, and by 1895, over 20,000 visitors were coming annually! This gathering was too good an opportunity to pass up for those looking for love. And so the local matchmaker in Lisdoonvarna was kept very, very busy!
Love in Lisdoonvarna today
Matchmaking at the festival is now overseen by Willie Daly, a third generation traditional Irish matchmaker and his daughter who is following in his footsteps. With their "magic book", they are credited with finding love for over 3,000 couples so far.
But it is not all down to Willie, his family and the magic book. Willie would be the first to say that the setting is all important. And the scene is certainly set in the town with plenty of music and dancing to the wee hours of the night to help Willie in his work! You can be sure there will be plenty of sweet nothings and perhaps even a few Claddaghs and celtic love knots exchanged in Clare this year.
A Token of Love
Want to show your love this Autumn and don't fancy your hand at fashioning your own harvest love knot? Our selection of Fine Celtic Knot Jewelry is designed and made in Ireland with Necklaces, Earrings, and Bracelets to suit every taste.
Rings for Promises Proposals, and Pledges
And for those ready to take the next step, we have a huge selection of romantic rings to choose from, whether you are looking for a promise ring, couples' rings, an engagement ring, or a wedding ring.
And if you need help choosing, get in touch. We haven't tried our hand at matchmaking (yet), but we do have a flawless record of helping people find the right jewelry for them. Send us an email or book a one-on-one appointment with us - we can help you find that perfect piece for your perfect match!
Get In Touch
Have a question or something you're not entirely sure about when browsing our pieces? Please reach out. You can send us a note or give us a call—the Dublin workshop is here to make sure that you have a perfect experience from start to finish with My Irish Jeweler.
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Ciaran
My Irish Jeweler
Born in Co. Antrim and reared in Dublin, I was fascinated with Gaelic culture from an early age. I suppose it's not surprising given my mother inherited a grá for the Irish language from my grandfather, an Irish school headmaster. And that grá continues! My brother and sister are now Gaelic teachers here in Ireland, my niece is an award winning Irish dancer, and I proudly work to share Irish culture through our Irish and Celtic Jewelry at My Irish Jeweler!
I love researching and reading about the history of Irish design. It's at the core of what we do here at My Irish Jeweler. I find much of it so interesting that I have to share what I find. I hope you enjoy it!
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