Why do we fold our hands during prayer?
It is an ancient tradition with deep symbolism.
Many can remember being taught by religious sisters how to pray with folded hands, though sometimes the instruction was lost in kid translation. One individual recounts (whether true or not) the reason the sisters taught him for folding hands.
Pray with hands folded up so that your prayers will go to heaven.
If your hands are pointed down your prayers will go down to hell.
And if your hands are sideways, your prayers will bounce all over the room.
Truthfully, the real reason we fold our hands in prayer has much deeper symbolism. In fact, the tradition has its roots in the customs of ancient cultures.
In the Jewish tradition there is evidence in the Talmud that some prayed with hands folded as early as the post-Exilic period and even continued after Christianity was established. Some historians believe that Christians adapted this custom from their Jewish heritage.
Another common belief is that the hands-folded posture was derived from a Roman practice symbolizing submission.
Religious historians trace the gesture back to the act of shackling a prisoner’s hands with vine or rope: joined hands came to symbolize submission. In ancient Rome, a captured soldier could avoid immediate death by joining the hands together. Just as waving a white flag today, the message was clear, ‘I surrender.’
Centuries later, subjects demonstrated their loyalty and paid homage to their rulers by joining their hands. In time, clasping the hands together communicated both an acknowledgement of another’s authority and one’s own submission to that authority.
This type of joining hands to profess loyalty is still evident in the liturgy of ordination. A bishop will clasp the hands of the priest he is ordaining and say, “Do you promise respect and obedience to me and my successors?”
Another aspect of the folding of hands includes crossing the thumbs, which many have been instructed to do in the form of a cross.
All of this results in a gesture that represents loyalty to God, pointing our prayers to heaven and being reminded of the cross of Christ.
While Christians are not bound to pray with hands folded, it is a beautiful option, one with ancient roots and profound symbolism.
