Everyone knows that when they see a person who is wearing a
ring on their left hand’s fourth finger, they’re married. Placing a wedding
band on the ring finger has long been accepted as a universal symbol of
marriage in many cultures throughout the world. While this is common knowledge
and practice, what is not so well known is the reason behind it all. Why do we
even place wedding rings on the left hand ring finger in the first place??
To answer that question, one must turn to several ancient
traditions and theories, the first of which hails from the East. The Chinese
believed that the bond of marriage was the strongest, most vitally important
one of all that a person could share with another. The accompanying video does
an excellent job at explaining the reasoning behind the cultures views and once
you put your hands together and follow along to it, you’ll understand.
In comparison, in the West the Romans developed their own
line of reasoning for as to why wedding rings should be worn on the finger they
are found on today. They believed that the human left hand’s fourth finger had
a vein in it that ran directly to the heart. The vein was called vena amoris,
which is Latin for vein of love. By wearing the wedding band on that finger,
the symbol of a couples love was always connected directly and kept close to
their hearts via the vena amoris.
There is something natural and intrinsic about our ring
fingers. Each culture developed different rationales and understandings about
which finger a wedding band should be placed on, and each arrived beautifully
at the same result.
There you have it! If you like hands on learning, or need a
clever angle to work into a wedding toast, be sure to check out the short and
sweet video clip. Now you know why and how wedding bands came to be placed on
the ring finger of our left hands.
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Source : sun-gazing