The use of rings as adornment is first credited to the Egyptians. Ancient art and oral history depicts the first use rings in Egyptian weddings. To this day these are worn on the second to the last finger of the left hand as it is believed that this has the Vena Amoris or the 鈥淰ein of love鈥? http://ezinearticles.com/?The-History-of-Engagement-Rings-and-Wedding-Bands&id=24579 sites this is the romantic and legendary vein that is connected straight to and from the heart. So, as two people wear these rings in matrimony, they it is believed they are bonded at the heart.
The ancient Greek and Romans were agreeable to placing these rings at that particular finger, but with them these rings were not always made with precious metals or jewels specially when it came to engagement rings. They were not very formal about this and its use was not a promise for a marriage but more of a lasting friendship. To even further diffuse the romantic side of things, the Romans used to carve key symbols on these rings. Signifying that these were the keys that gave the woman the right to half the man's wealth. But of course later on it was tweaked a little and oral history told that it was instead the key to opening the man's heart.
This is the same finger that westerners prefer their engagement rings to be. The Engagement ring is actually a declaration that the woman, upon its presentation is already reserved for marriage. As attested by http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_long_after_marriage_proposal_until_wedding there are no written rules as to how long the engagement period is supposed to be prior to the actual wedding, so ideally, wearing this symbolic ring will remind the bearer of a promise, and fortunately ward off other sumptuous offers during this precarious period. Taking it again from the said site, the average engagement period is 1.5 to 2 years.
But according to http://www.mamashealth.com/wedding/engage it is the French which actually popularized its use in this romantic gesture. 16th Century Frenchmen used to bestow 鈥淕immal鈥?Rings to their beloved. We still see some of these today not only as matching rings but as rings that are designed to be intertwined together. So, the man and woman wear this separately during the engagement period then the man would actually take his off during the wedding day and 鈥渃onnect鈥?it to the woman's by virtue of its interlocking design. These would actually serve as her wedding band while the Man would wear a complimentary kind. Nice!
But these were predominantly made of gold, and the Italians were the culprits that shifted the practice of buying diamonds as the preferred choice for an engagement. They fondly believed that diamonds were made from the flames of love and would be the best ambassador of an everlasting bond of love.
Over the years, mass marketing in the west continued to influence these traditions as the world's premier supplier of diamonds. It became a global market place even in the early 20th century, and DeBeers began to own this niche by attaching the notion that an engagement ring should equal two months salary of the man.
In any case lavish or simple gifts, flowers, banquets, endless parties and other romantic overtures will never hurt and never belittle a lifetime promise of trust and devotion. And just like that the engagement ring may not be made of the hardest and shiniest material known to man, but the message of the engagement should still prevail to this day as a testament to our rich history in the art of love. It was in a Mel Gibson movie, the epic 鈥淏raveheart鈥?that tugged my heartstrings best. It was when our hero presented the ring of straw as their engagement and wedding band to his beautiful damsel, who although was later slain, became his great inspiration to defend his countrymen and unite a bitterly divided nation. And that was just a ring of straw, imagine what would have happened if he gave her a diamond. Smile!
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