Wedding Rings and Why We Wear Them

As chance has it, the oldest recorded exchange of wedding rings comes from ancient Egypt, about 4800 years ago.

In early Egypt, the ring was linked with the supernatural, a never-ending band linked with eternal love.
For the Romans later, the ring's acceptance by a young lady was a binding, legal agreement and the girl was no longer free. Today we accept the ring as part of a religious ceremony when we marry in church.

As time passes traditions change and, today, it is not only the brides who wear rings as a symbol of their lasting affection, but the majority of men also choose to wear this badge of fidelity and commitment.

Wear wedding ring left or right hand?
Most people wear the wedding band on the left hand. However, some European women wear the ring on their right hand. Some Scandinavian women wear three rings, one each for engagement, marriage and motherhood.

Jewish brides have the ring placed on their index finger, since that is the finger with which they point to the Torah as they read.

Puritans refused to wear wedding rings because they considered jewelry frivolous, yet in Colonial times, couples exchanged "wedding thimbles" - a useful and practical gift, and therefore acceptable - but after the wedding they often cut off the bottoms thereby creating rings.
Whatever the culture, whatever the century, people have recognized the importance of sealing their unions with rings.

There are many theories as to why this particular finger came to symbolize marriage. Both the ancient Romans and Egyptians believed that a vein - called the vena amoris in Latin - ran directly from that finger to the heart.

In medieval England, a bridegroom would slide the ring part way up his bride's thumb, index and middle finger, saying "In the name of the father, the son, and the holy ghost" as he passed each one. He then put the ring on the next available finger - the third finger of the left hand. This practice was finally formalized in the 1500's when Henry VIII's son authored The Book of Common Prayer

The practice of men wearing wedding rings is relatively new. Up until the middle of the twentieth century, it was mostly only women who wore wedding rings, perhaps a reminder of the days when women were regarded as property, or perhaps a harmless custom akin to women wearing engagement rings that their husbands do not. When World War Two broke out and many young men faced lengthy separations from their wives, men began wearing wedding bands as a symbol of their marriages and a reminder of their wives.

It was pure romance, a gesture of love and affection that has happily survived into modern times. The vast majority of men wear wedding bands these days.