12 August 2018

M is for Marriage

What finger does the wedding ring go on?

It used to be pretty well accepted most people in English-speaking countries wear their wedding ring on their left hand ring finger. This reasoning can be traced right back to Roman times, and even before that. It was believed that the vein in the ring finger (technically, the fourth finger) on the left hand ran directly to one's heart. Because of this, the Romans called that vein the vena amoris or vein of love. To reinforce the fact that the union was based on love, they'd place the ring on that finger that housed the vein of love to signify the romance the newly married couple shares.

Our modern-day understanding of biology suggests that all your fingers have vein connections to the heart.

There are, however, other cultures with their own traditions about wedding rings. People in many other countries wear a ring on their right hand (including Austria, Denmark, Poland, India, Venezuela and Chile). German couples place a gold band on the left hand before the wedding. After they’re married, they move it to the right hand as a symbol of unity. In The Netherlands, Catholic people wear it on the left, all others on the right. Greek people, many being Orthodox Christians, also wear the wedding rings on the right hand in keeping with Greek tradition. There are bound to be other exceptions.

So, the answer is ... it depends...

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