These are the words of the traditional wedding vows exchanged and uttered tens of thousands of times every day as couples take the plunge.
But where did the idea of a ring being granted on marriage or even before the wedding actually originate from?
Depending on who you believe the idea of a ring came about because it represented the fetters holding women in bondage; because the circle represents endless love and eternity with no beginning and no end; similarly, the union of a man and a woman and where one begins and another ends is fused imperceptibly.
In other words, no one really knows for sure, but what we do know is that the ancient Egyptians do provide the earliest recorded exchange of rings to signify betrothal and marriage. The practice is believed to originate along the banks of the River Nile, a potent symbol for the inhabitants as it supported life and the harvest but along its bank's grow papyrus, sedge and reeds. Manipulating these plant fibers into strands and then braided around the fingers and wrists resulted in the first known rudimentary wedding rings and bracelets.
The ring shape itself had deep significance for the ancients and not just the Egyptians but for all peoples around the world and throughout time. The ring or circle represented the sun and also the moon; both dominating the hearts and minds of men even to this very day! The space for the finger also held special significance representing not just a hole for fitting the ring over a finger but a gateway leading to the future and a future bonded in matrimony at that.
This leads on to why the modern wedding custom of placing and wearing the ring on the third finger of the left hand?
Again the practice is believed to originate with the Egyptians who after being conquered by the Ancient Greeks combined the practice with their own medical belief that this finger had a vein which ran directly to the heart, an idea adopted by the Romans. Through the Romans, the Europeans gained the tradition which has by various routes become the tradition here in the United States and many other countries and cultures worldwide.
Now a ring made from plant fibers is not going to have a long-lasting life, especially if it is worn everyday in a marriage which may last for decades.
After a year or so the rings would break down and become worn out but this in turn spurred the development of rings made of more sturdy and long lasting materials. Initially this was not metals such as silver or gold but instead leather, ivory or carved bone and often wood and sometimes stone.
The addition of a decorative stone such as a diamond or sapphire was a later development and which is beyond our scope of this article today, but needless to say, how we come by the traditional diamond ring for engagement and wedding rings is also a tale steeped in history and several different cultures.
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