Cultural Significance of Men’s Wedding Bands

 

Marriage in all cultures has different stories with their varied traditions. The customs, themes, rituals, food, clothes, and even jewelry – all have their tales. Every cultural tradition is replete with its historical significance. But one thing remains true for all and that is the importance given to wedding bands. We certainly know that just like women men too select their diamond wedding bands with the utmost care. Though worn everywhere in the world by men, the setting, the styles, and the manner how they are carried differ in the different corners of the globe. Not many of us know about the origin of rings and how men’s wedding bands emerged, so let us enrich our knowledge a bit.

The earliest tales of rings

Dating back to very old days in Egypt, rings were first crafted from materials like leather, ivory, bone, and hemp. They were given a circular shape as it was the mark of eternity. Many also believed that the space in the ring was just like a gate or entrance to future happenings in a person’s life. They even believed that a vein named Vena Amoris connected the fourth finger directly to the heart. Later people pointed this as the ring finger and added a romantic meaning to it. Those of you flashing your diamond men’s wedding bands have you ever known about this?

Changing traditions

Later metal versions of the earlier bone rings came into life. Now it became a matter of status symbol as metal bands with precious stones and diamonds were afforded only by the wealthy and it expressed how much wealth one had. Love lost prominence. In Ancient Roman times, the custom of wearing wedding rings started growing and spreading to other cultures as well. However, in Rome, the bride’s father received the ring because it served as a mark of bride money. This means that the wife now belonged to the husband. Much later the tradition changed to that when the groom gifted the bride a very costly gold ring to establish trust. Some often wore a quirky iron wedding band for everyday wear. It had a small key motif that stood for the key to the husband’s heart.

Eastern traditions

Moving to customary East Asian culture, we find that people did not consider wearing wedding bands to be a romantic idea. It was more of a seal that marked marriage as a legal contract between two people. It is said that unusual-sounding puzzle rings with small pieces were given to wives. The pieces were bound to fall off if the wife tried to take the ring off. That’s a strange yet funny way of proving your loyalty towards your husband.

The story of Men Wedding Rings

Strangely women were the only ones who had the privilege of wearing wedding rings since their tradition started but from the 20th century onwards during WWII, the scenario became quite different. Now different forms of men’s wedding bands came into the forefront. Men went to war with the rings on the fingers, acting as reminders of the love and commitment they had for each other.

Even today diamond wedding bands for men hold the same meaning, even though the styles and forms keep changing with time.