Lyons Leadership

If you are about to get married and you are shopping for wedding rings, you’ll find that you are taking part in a tradition that is hundreds of years old. When you go to slide the ring on to the finger of your betrothed, you are becoming part of a ritual that has marked marriages back through time and all over the world.

The Egyptians were the first civilization (as far as we know) to use wedding rings as a part of their wedding ceremonies. Ancient Egyptians wore wedding rings made from materials which were readily available to them. Less affluent people would use wedding bands woven of hemp or those made of leather or bone. The more well off would have rings carved from ivory or made of precious metals. However, these wedding rings were generally given as gifts on the occasion of a wedding and were not built to last more than a couple of years, unlike wedding bands as we know them today.

Though the tradition of the wedding ring is an old one, it might interest you to know that there were many different types. While we are very familiar with the plain gold bands, Greek women and Anatolian women in years past received puzzle rings, while women in many French speaking countries received a band that was made up of three rings interwoven together.

One thing which has changed about wedding rings over the centuries is where they have been worn. In modern Western cultures, the wedding ring is traditionally worn on the left hand on the third finger. The reason for this is that this finger is the site of a vein which runs directly from the heart (this is actually not true, but it is a lovely story). However, in Elizabethan England, women wore their wedding rings in the thumb and Russian brides often wore their wedding rings on the third finger of the right hand rather than the left.

You have a lot of choices when it comes to wedding rings; you can decide from one with a long history and many traditions which come with it or choose a plain gold band. There are also Celtic-style knot work rings, Turkish puzzle ring styles and interwoven bands in the French style. Regardless of which style you choose for your marriage, a wedding ring makes a strong statement about your lasting love and commitment to your spouse ” a tradition which has thousands of years of history behind it.