The History of Wedding Rings

The way I see it, the wedding ring is the most intimate and beautiful jewelry item. Wedding rings ceremonial, they are publicly exchanged, and no matter what style or design they radiate the beauty of true, everlasting love. But where did the tradition come from?! Even today, the specific particulars of how to wear a wedding ring vary from culture to culture, and so it only follows that the tale of its origin varies too.

Most agree that what we know today as the wedding band originated in the exotic desserts of ancient Egypt. Ancient Egyptians believed strongly in the symbolic power of the circle. It represented eternity, infinity, the supernatural and the sun, one of their many gods. It’s said that Egyptians would weave plant fibers into circular bands to signify never-ending love. They also believed (incorrectly, but romantically!) that a special vein ran directly from the heart to the tip of the ring finger, or fourth finger. This became the finger of the wedding band.

The Greeks and Romans had a similar custom of wearing a wedding ring on the fourth finger, but the Roman ring was not a gift of love. The Roman wedding ring was a symbol of ownership! Roman men would “brand” their wives by placing a ring on her finger. In fact, the wedding ring was frequently attached to the exchange of property during a wedding (ugh! I know!) in ages and cultures where marriage was more of a familial contract, rather than a symbol of love.

In fact, the practice of the woman placing a wedding ring on a man is pretty new. Only in the face of World War II did men’s wedding rings start to become popular. Young soldiers decided to wear the wedding ring as a symbol of their marriage and a memento of their wife and family back home.

As you can see, there have been innumerable variations on the wedding ring, One of the strangest ones was the wedding thimble! That’s right, in the colonial years when America was still a brave new world, protestant Christians believed in a very plain and modest lifestyle. They believed that extravagant or luxurious things could be sinful. So, instead of exchanging rings, they gifted a practical sewing thimble as a pledge of their eternal partnership. I know, a thimble. Totally weird.

Well, It seems like over the years, the wedding ring has evolved with the idea of marriage. In cultures where marriage meant individual, unique, special sparks between two people who decide to enter into a life-long partnership, the ring became a symbol of eternal devotion and infinite love. And in cultures where marriage was arranged by families and communities, the ring was seen more as a contractual stamp or identifying mark.