Sunday, January 17, 2016

8:00 AM
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