Women's Wedding Rings
The wedding ring has a long fascinating history. Its origin is in the Ancient Egyptian civilization, where reeds of plants growing along the Nile were initially braided and weaved into rings and bracelets. For these civilizations, much like for ours, the circle shaped ring symbolized eternity and life. It was also reminiscent of their worshipped sun and moon. The hole in the center of the rings symbolized a gate way to the unknown. For all of these reasons, the ring soon came to symbolize love, as the Egyptians believed that this intense emotion could perhaps capture eternity.
Wedding rings in Egypt were worn on the third finger of the left hand, just like they are today, because it was believed that an artery connected this finger directly to the heart. Both the belief and the tradition were later adopted by the Greeks, and still later by the Romans.
The first wedding rings were made of hemp, leather, bone, and ivory. When metallurgy developed, various metals came to replace these materials. However, since ancient techniques still yielded highly uneven rings, they were adorned with precious and semi-precious gemstones. Throughout the ages, various metals were popularly used in wedding rings, in different periods. These included gold, silver, copper, and iron, among others. According to some cultures, though, it is considered bad luck if a wedding ring is made of anything but gold. Irish folklore has it that bestowing a wedding ring made of any material other than pure gold was illegal. While this is not a historically valid claim, it does point to the high regard for gold in this region, like in many others.
Today, women’s wedding rings come in a variety of different metals, the most popular being yellow gold, white gold, platinum, and titanium. They are commonly plain metal bands, but sometimes, women prefer that their wedding ring be adorned with striking gemstones. Other women prefer that their engagement ring be elaborate and their wedding ring – a plain metal band. Plain or adorned, a common custom is to have romantic messages engraved on the ring’s inner surface, further reinforcing the symbol of love and devotion, bore by all wedding rings.
