Wedding rings are pieces of jewellery that are worn by couples forever, symbolizing their eternal love for one another. The reason why wedding rings are known to be circular in shape is because a circle has no beginning and no end; hence why marriages are meant to last forever.
During a wedding ceremony, there are certain rituals that are followed before placing the rings on the hands; however, the ring is almost always placed on the fourth finger of the left hand, which raises the question ‘why?’.
Thousand of years ago, there was a Greek and Roman belief that a vein from the fourth finger on the left hand ran directly to the heart. This vein was known as the ‘vena amoris’ also known as the vein of love. This belief led to the tradition of wearing the wedding ring on that particular finger, symbolizing the love amongst the couple being married. According to scientific evidence, this myth is not true, however many individuals still like to believe it is.
The Chinese developed a theory, which is actually really interesting and a bit fun to try. If you look at your left hand, each finger is a representation of the past, present and future generations within your family. For example, the thumb represents your parents, your index finger represents your siblings, the middle finger represents yourself, your fourth finger represents your life-partner and the fifth finger, your pinkie, represents your future children.
Now it’s time for a little experiment. Place your hands together and bend your middle fingers together, allowing for your knuckles to touch. When doing this, allow for your other remaining fingers to touch.
Begin to pull each finger apart, individually. You will see that your thumbs will pull apart because you are not destined to be with your parents forever. Now do the same action with your index finger and pinkie; you will see the same results. According to the Chinese theory, you are not meant to be together forever with your siblings, as well as your future children as they will leave the home and start a family of their own.
Now try to do the same action with your ring finger, which represents your life partner. When you try to separate these fingers apart, it doesn’t lift as easily as the other fingers, right? This is because you and your life partner are meant to be together forever.
The more ‘practical myth’ behind wearing the wedding ring on the fourth finger of the left hand is that since most individuals are right handed, this means that the left hand is not used as much; the ring will not be as damaged than if it were used on the right hand. Also, the ring finger is one of the least used fingers after the pinkie.
Fun Fact: Did you know that not every country uses the wedding ring on the left hand? Countries such as Spain, Venezuela, Peru, India, Norway and Denmark wear their wedding bands on the right hand, however still on the fourth finger. It is said that the wedding ring is worn on the right hand because it is the more dominant of the two, symbolizing the strength of the marriage between a husband and a wife.
So after a few myths, theories and traditions, at the end of the day it is your decision on which hand and finger you will wear your wedding ring. As long as there is that eternal love between the bride and groom, nothing else should matter, right?
Now some amazing facts about it...
But did you ever wonder where this ring-giving custom originated from? Well ... I am. After a little bit of research A-Rounda discovered the following interesting facts:
- The ever-so-suave Caveman of prehistoric times supposedly "tied" his woman to himself by putting a line of twisted fibers or threads around her finger. Can you imagine ....?
- The men of ancient Egypt are said to have taken plant stems, forming them into circles, and putting them on the fourth finger (today known as the "ring finger") of their betrothed. Why? The roundness of the "ring" symbolized eternity (there's neither beginning nor end to a circle), and they also thought that the "ring finger" had a special vein connected directly to the heart!
- It is believed that in ancient Greece young couples exchanged "friendship rings" made out of twine, expressing their fondness of each other. This forerunner of the Engagement Ring did not, however, necessarily lead towards marriage. Gotta keep your options open ...
- The slightly more possessive Roman men put rings on the fingers of their betrothed as a way of putting a "claim" on their woman. The ring literally symbolized "ownership", and meant to tell others that this particular woman already belonged to someone else.
- In the ancient Middle East women must have been in short supply, because young men put simple brass rings on the fingers of young girls (sometimes as young as 11 years old) they had laid their eyes on, in order to convey to the rest of the community that this particular one was already spoken for. The couple would then remain "engaged" until the girl reached a more mature age, at which the couple would finally get married.
- Since men in Medieval Europe were busy fighting in the Crusades all the time, they put rings on the fingers of their beloved as a "promise" that they would tie the knot after he returned from waging war. I could not, however, find out what happened if the he never made it back from the battle field ...
- Talk about "cold feet" ... the longest ever recorded engagement lasted 67 years! At age 15, Octavio Guillan and Adriana Martinez got engaged in Mexico. Finding one excuse after another, Octavio postponed the wedding time and again. At age 82, Adriana finally put her foot down, and the couple got married. As much as I looked, I could never find out how many years they had as husband and wife ...
