Source: The Times Argus

http://timesargus.com/Regional_News/Story/81585.html

On April 3, 2004 The Times Argus reported, "Across the country, pagan weddings are popular again. Apparently tired of the strictures of traditional ceremonies, couples are turning to the religion of the Druids for inspiration, from 'handfasting' [an ancient ritual that binds together a couple's hands to represent their unity and commitment to one another] to pentagramatic seating arrangements...This spring, traditionally the start of the wedding season, many more couples are expected to be wed or engaged in ceremonies like this. Driven by best-sellers like last year's 'The Da Vinci Code' - a novel that argues that Christianity's core rituals are rooted in pre-Christian beliefs - paganism, a polytheistic collection of faiths from Wicca to shamanism that all worship the natural elements, is one of the fastest-growing religions in the United States. Between 770,000 and 1 million people practice a form of paganism, according to the Pluralism Project, a study of world religions at Harvard University."