Wedding Ring history

The most legendary symbol of matrimony. When a woman and a man become husband and wife, they exchange wedding rings.

The ancestral origins of the wedding ring transport us to the banks of the Nile, where the ancient civilization of the Egyptians in the North of Africa started with the use of wedding rings made of twisted and braided grasses and sedges.

For the ancient Egyptians the ?circle? was symbol of eternal life, the circle had no beginning nor end, like time. The circle also was worshiped as the symbol of the Sun and the Moon. The center hole of the ring was the symbol of the eternal door, leading to the unknown.

Based on those belief, the ring began to be associated with love, and used as a present symbolizing ?eternity? in love and relationship.

The ring was used just as we do today, on the third finger of the left hand. The belief was that the vein of the third finger of the left hand traveled directly to the heart. This same legend was then taken by the invading army of Alexander the Great and passed on to the Romans. The Romans called this vein the ?vena amoris?, meaning ?the vein of love?.

These early rings made of twisted grass usually lasted no more than one year. As people wanted a longer lasting construction, they opted for leather, ivory and other materials.

Then came the era of the metals, and gradually the wedding rings started to be made in the more durable metal. In the early day of Rome, iron was the material of preference for wedding rings, as iron represented strength (being copper and bronze weaker materials).

The act of giving and accepting a ring became a legally binding ceremony, and thus enforceable in the courts of law. The ring made the woman property of the man, but also protected her from being abused or usurped by rival men (those were though times).

On occasions the groom will give the bride a gold or silver ring, was a way of showing that he trusted his beloved with his valuable property.

Pretty soon gold became the norm and in the Medieval times the gemstones became a popular addition, rubies, sapphires and of course diamonds.

In the Renaissance silver made a come back in Italy and spread all through Europe. Silver also became prominent in England and France around the 1700s

and widely used for wedding rings. But later gold came back again as the metal of choice.

?Bad luck if it is not gold?

Not really. This ancient Irish say was never truth. Like in any other parts of the world, several metals were used to make wedding rings. Although a gold wedding ring was always very desired and on occasions was just ?provided? by a friend for the wedding ceremony (and immediately reclaimed afterwards!).

Superstitions from other areas pointed that was absolutely necessary for the ring to have a ?perfect fit? or the marriage would en in disarray. A ring that was ?too tight? would imply a marriage with painful jealousy. A ring ?too loose? would indicate a marriage destined to be dissolved by extramarital activity.

As of today, most Christina religions accept the wedding ring as a symbol of marriage and commitment. Thus the customs of the groom slipping the ring half way up and then down on the bride thumb, then first and middle finger, and reciting: in the name of the Father, the son and the Holy Ghost? as he touched each one of the fingers.

Why the left hand?

In some parts of the European Continent it is and always has been the right. So there is no particular reason for one hand or the other that we know.

Back to fingers though, and the thumb briefly challenged the accepted norm in Elizabethan days as fashionable ladies deemed to wear their wedding rings there, but this did not last and so today it is as it was in the beginning, just like a circle really, or a ring.

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