Wednesday 22 August 2018




How did the Wedding Ring become a tradition?



Many wedding traditions date back centuries, but the wedding ring is one of the oldest.
The first version date back to prehistoric times when they would bind the wife’s arms and legs, this was because the life expectancy was very low, and the people believed that a person sprite flowed throughout their body, so in order to stop her soul escaping they would tie a piece of the binding rope (grass) to her finger to prolong her life. This tradition evolved from grass, to rope, to leather, and then as it is now metal.

The more expensive the material, the more love was shown to the receiver and the value of the ring showed the wealth or status of the giver, showing the ability to financially support the women.
History says that the Romans believed that the metal ring should be worn on the third finger of the left hand because that was the “Vena Amoris” meaning the “vein of Love” and the left hand because the heart is closer to the left arm.

As people moved around the world this metal band become one of the wide-spread traditions.
Later traditions were the diamonds, the first engagement ring to have a diamond in was not until 1400’s but as they were very rare and hard to find they did not catch on until the 1700’s when new mines were discovered, and the engagement ring became wide-spread. Today we use diamonds in wedding rings as diamonds are the hardest and strongest mineral on earth.

Ancient Egyptian’s would have given rings to the people they were intimate with, they were the first people to wear ring for love and both men and women would wear them, they would be a band with no end to symbolise eternal love but this did not last as Ancient Romans saw their wife’s a possessions and they had to wear the ring as a sign of ownership. Men did not wear wedding Rings until much later. The Romans also started the marriage laws.
In the middle east they also used rings as a symbol of ownership, but they had a different way of ensuring that their wives stayed loyal but creating “puzzle rings” so if their wife tried to take it off it would fall apart.

Men’s wedding rings are the newest tradition, in the new world men were recognised as the dominant sex so they did not feel the need to wear a wedding ring but when world war 2 started men began to wear weddings ring to remember their wives back home, this became a tradition for military men but after the Korean war it became more popular for civil men to wear wedding rings. To this day men and women have many different styles to choose from, but it is a symbol that has grown and will continue to be passed down throughout the ages.

1 comment:

  1. You have practically a world of choices when picking the right diamond engagement ring, and one of the most important parts of that process is choosing the ring’s metal content. Gold and platinum are the most popular choices for a woman’s ring because of the tradition and the properties of each metal which allow amazing workmanship and beauty.

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