There are different types of handfasting, depending on what kind of commitment you want to make. There is temporary handfasting - when you give yourself to another person for a short period, maybe a year or two, a life long handfasting - where you give yourself to each other for life and for the really, really, really committed - the life and beyond handfasting, which commits a couple beyond the grave and into the next life. The idea is that you don't make a promise unless you can keep it. Not many for life and beyond handfastings!