The History of the Wedding Ring

Declaring one's love and commitment by the exchanging of rings is a tradition that has existed long before pop star Beyonce Knowles gave men the charge to ''put a ring on it."This tradition goes as far back as the Ancient Egyptians.

The Ancient Egyptians
The ancient Egyptians believed that a vein located in the fourth finger led directly to the heart. They believed that by placing a ring on this finger, the affections were bound and could not escape through the finger tips.

The Ancient Greeks
The Ancient GreeksThe Egyptians passed the belief on to the Greeks when they were conquered by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C.

The Romans
The Romans adopted the use of the ring finger from the Greeks. They too believed it held a vein connected to the heart and called it Vena Amoris or "Vein of Love."

England
In 1549, King Edward VI decreed that the third finger (counting from the right, excluding the thumb) on the left hand be known as the official ring finger. Also in 1549, the Book of Common Prayers designated the left hand as the marriage hand.

The Scottish

In Scottish tradition, the ring finger was on the right hand, but was eventually changed to the left when the Roman Church declared the left hand as the marriage hand in the Rituale Romanum of Paul V in 1615.

Diamonds: A Girl's Best Friend

Legend has it that the first woman to receive a diamond engagement ring was Princess Mary of Burgundy. Her beloved, the Austrian Archduke Maximillian I of Habsburg gave her a diamond engagement ring when he proposed on August 17, 1477.

Tungsten Jewellery Manufacturer & Supplier: Chinatungsten Online - http://www.tungsten-jewellery.com
Tel.: 86 592 5129696; Fax: 86 592 5129797
Email: sales@chinatungsten.com
Tungsten & Molybdenum Information Bank: http://i.chinatungsten.com
Tungsten News & Tungsten Prices, 3G Version: http://3g.chinatungsten.com
Molybdenum News & Molybdenum Price: http://news.molybdenum.com.cn

• < Prev
• Next >