Wearing wedding rings – its meaning
Wedding rings may have different styles, be made of different materials, but they all mean the same.
Wedding rings mean the perfect union of the married couple and their eternal unity. While the marrying couple make wedding vows between each other, wedding rings are the elements that seal those vows and act as a material and perpetual reminder of their commitment to one another, as they say, ”till Death do us part”. Nowadays wedding rings are made of the most diverse materials and designs, specific for each couple´s taste, style and preferences, but the meaning remains the same.
Wedding rings Meaning
Wedding rings mean a series of very important elements in the life of a married couple: eternal love, devotion, commitment, faithfulness, honor and respect, and the love bondage of unity. They constitute an agreement legally unified between husband and wife, and in many cases, it is taken as a symbol of how the wife becomes her husband´s subordinate and the husband promises to protect his wife. A wedding ring shows to society the marital state of an individual.
Wedding rings Origins
The use of alliances takes back to prehistoric times when the prehistoric cave dwellers used to tie ropes to their womens´fingers to symbolize the union of their spirits. The ancient Egyptians used to make wedding rings of straw and cane in circular bands which would mean their eternal and immortal love. During the first decades of the colonies which settled in what we know now as The United States of America, colonists were forbidden to wear any kind of jewellery as it was thought to be superficial and lacked any moral value. So they decided that men would give thimbles to their fiancées, as a more practical symbol of their love and commitment of a life of eternal union. After the wedding, women would generally take off the upper part of their “wedding thimble”, so that it would look more “wedding ring” like.
Wedding rings Symbolism
The circular shape of the wedding ring, without a beginning or an end, symbolizes eternal union and endless love, a promise that cannot be broken. Its round shape is also associated with the sun and the moon, their plenitude and the perfection that represents the married couple interacting in peace and joy. Alliances are traditionally made of metal, as a symbol of the strenght of marriage.
The ring finger
Wearing the wedding ring in the left hand ring finger is a habit that dates back from the belief that blood from an artery in the left ring finger leads straight to the heart. That is why couples wear their alliance rings in the left ring finger, to symbolize true love which comes from and flows back to the heart.
Engraving
Wedding rings are usually engraved in their interior part with the names of the bride and the groom, as well as the marriage date. They can also contain a brief phrase, as a motto of commitment. Some couples choose to keep that message a secret until the day of the wedding, when they put the ring in each other´s finger, with the intention of surprising the people at the ceremony with their marriage vows.