Here’s why the wedding band is worn on the fourth finger!
| Updated: Mar 15, 2018, 15:05 IST
When we spot someone with a band on their fourth finger on their left hand, it immediately sends us a signal that the man or woman is married. Why is that? Have you ever questioned this? Seems arbitrary, but there’s actually a historical reason as to why the fourth finger became the 'ring finger'. The wedding ring tradition dates back to ancient Egypt and archaeologists have found evidence in hieroglyphics that brides would wear a ring, according to a leading news channel.
The Egyptians who first started wearing wedding bands as a symbol of eternity believed there was a 'delicate nerve' that ran from the fourth finger all the way to the heart. And while the heart is known for that organ that pumps blood, it is also the organ we connect to love, passion and emotion. Egyptians weren’t the only ones giving rings away, though. Ancient Greeks and even ancient Romans also slipped wedding rings on their left ring fingers for a similar reason. They believed a ‘vena amoris’—Latin for ‘vein of love’—ran from that finger to the heart. Even though that vein and nerve don’t exist, western countries have now continued this tradition, however, in cultures, such as in Denmark, Poland and Cuba, the rings go on the right hand but on the same finger.
Here's another interesting fact: Traditionally, women were the only ones to wear wedding rings. Men didn’t join in until World War II, when husbands wanted something to remind them of their wives and kids.
The Egyptians who first started wearing wedding bands as a symbol of eternity believed there was a 'delicate nerve' that ran from the fourth finger all the way to the heart. And while the heart is known for that organ that pumps blood, it is also the organ we connect to love, passion and emotion. Egyptians weren’t the only ones giving rings away, though. Ancient Greeks and even ancient Romans also slipped wedding rings on their left ring fingers for a similar reason. They believed a ‘vena amoris’—Latin for ‘vein of love’—ran from that finger to the heart. Even though that vein and nerve don’t exist, western countries have now continued this tradition, however, in cultures, such as in Denmark, Poland and Cuba, the rings go on the right hand but on the same finger.
Here's another interesting fact: Traditionally, women were the only ones to wear wedding rings. Men didn’t join in until World War II, when husbands wanted something to remind them of their wives and kids.