A Brief History of Wedding Rings

July 28th, 2010 by admin

Wedding rings symbolize love and loyalty between couples and are exchanged during the nuptial ceremony. The wedding ring symbolizes commitment and is worn by both the bride and groom on their left hand ring finger. Even though the right hand is the hand used for oaths, it is believed the left hand is used since most are right handed the ring would be less likely to be broken or lost. The rings are a sign of the fidelity, devotion, loyalty, and faithfulness to one another and are an indicator a person is married.

The Egyptians and Romans is where the trend of wearing the wedding rings on the left hand third finger. They were of the belief the third finger vein goes straight to the heart, thus making this finger the most appropriate to place the wedding ring. Nowadays this is considered a myth and it has been proven scientifically the vein does not lead to the heart whatsoever. Given this, many do still believe the fact considering the origin which gives a feeling of the love a couple feels between one another knowing their rings connect them by heart.

In medieval England the groom would place the bride’s wedding ring on her thumb, index finger, and middle finger. All the while chanting “in the name of the father, the son, and the holy ghost”, when the chant completed he would then place the ring on the third finger of the left hand. It was not until the 1500’s the ceremony became formal by the book ‘The Book of Common Prayer’ written by Henry VIII’s son. The book explains wedding vows and the placing of the ring finger in depth with the ring finger being the third finger on the left hand.

It was not until the 20th century wedding rings were not only worn by women but men as well. World War II men began to wear wedding rings to symbolize their marriage since they were away from their wives for extremely long periods. In today’s society many make the choice whether to wear a wedding ring or not. Some due to their own beliefs may chose not to wear one while others cannot due to safety reasons of their occupation.



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