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Wedding Ring &
Engagement Lore
In 860 Pope Nicolas I decreed that a ring was a requirement to signify betrothal. He further stipulated that it should made of gold.

In the 13th century, Pope Innocent III instituted a waiting period between engagement and marriage, and that a ring be used as the symbol of marriage.

The Italian-French physician Julius Caesar Scaliger discovered Platinum in 1557. Because of its similarity to silver, it was called platina del Pinto by the Spaniards - the derivation platinum.

Platinum has been used in jewelry since only 19th century.

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Many stories abound to explain the origin of the wedding ring. They range from the theory that the wedding ring was first used in ancient Egypt, where it was customary to place a piece of ring-money on the bride’s finger to indicate that she was endowed with her husband’s wealth, to the wife receiving a signet ring indicating that as such, she had authority over and access to her husband's wealth and goods.

It wasn't so long ago that kidnapping brides was a common practice, and the practice is in a way, the derivation of the custom to carry the bride over the threshold, and the word honeymoon. A honeymoon was, and still is, the first month following a marriage. After capturing his bride a man would keep her hidden and plied with a honey wine for the term of one moon or month. Lore has it that if the woman was pregnant after the month of hiding, her family would abandon her.

The best man and groomsmen are derivatives of the groom's kidnapping accomplices and the bridesmaids are good friends and the bride's female family members who dressed like the bride to help foil evil spirits and unsuitable suitors.

In times when women were granted few privileges and even fewer personal rights, marriage by purchase was the common way to obtain a wife. The price for a bride could be land, social status, political alliances, or cash. The groom had to pay the bride's father for losing the work efforts of a valuable household member. In exchange for property, the bride was literally given away to the groom by her father.

The term dowry comes from India. The practice originated in upper caste families as the wedding gift to the bride from her family.

The term "wedding" is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word "weddian," or promise, that the groom would marry the woman named. The root of the word "wedding" comes from the Anglo Saxon word "wedden" literally means to wage or bet.

Throughout the ages, most cultures have memorialized the life changing state of marriage with ritual and symbol. The ancient Egyptians supposedly wore rings made of woven reeds. Early Romans wore "betrothal" rings made of iron, signifying strength and permanence. Later on, these iron rings were worn by the majority of the populus whereas gold rings were reserved for those of civil or military rank. Later yet, gold rings were permitted to freeborn citizens, silver to freedmen, and iron to slaves.

According to lore, wearing a betrothal ring on the third finger of the left hand dates back to ancient Egypt, where it was believed that the vena amoris - the vein of love, ran from that finger directly to the heart. Since then, placement of the wedding ring has moved from hand to hand and finger to finger. During the 16th and 17th centuries it was very fashionable to wear a wedding ring on the thumb.

The concept of two rings was introduced during the Renaissance when jewelers created a new kind of wedding ring called the gimmal (from the Middle English - gemel, old French - gemelles, and Latin - gemellus), or twin, ring. It consisted of two or more interlocking rings, some of which terminated in clasping hands, that joined together into one, symbolizing the union of two lives. Martin Luther and Catherine Bora were wed with an inscribed gimmal ring in 1525.

King George III of England not only introduced the tradition of the "keeper," or guard ring in 1761 when he presented a band encircled with diamonds to his bride, Queen Charlotte, but at the same time he also introduced the eternity band, which today is popular as a wedding or anniversary band.

Clasping hands as a symbol of joining two people in matrimony purportedly dates back to ancient Rome where some wedding rings were carved with two clasped hands. That image is still a symbol of deep friendship and commitment and popular in the form of claddagh rings, named after a village in Galway, Ireland.

Perhaps eternity rings are the modern day equivalent of the Druidic heart shaped ringed area made of stones, in which a couple stood to make their vows. The ring symbolized the union of their love. So too does the modern eternity ring which is encircled with stones and is normally given as a wedding or anniversary band.