Use Of A Wedding Ring example essay topic

When it comes to planning a wedding, people have to worry not only about food, flowers, and what they wear, they also have to honor many traditions, even if they don't understand their origins or meanings. However, to not follow these traditions, understood or not, might mean bad luck for the marriage or, at the very least, disgruntled wedding guests. Every culture cherishes its own marriage traditions and superstitions. Many are not understood but are still seriously followed because 'it's always been done that way'; (Kendrick). Even people not normally superstitious wouldn't think of violating these traditions. Many traditions originated from old rhymes, folktales or tribal traditions whose origins are lost in time.

For example, one of the original meanings of the word 'wedding'; was to gamble or wager. This comes from the time when a bride price was required before marriage. This bride price could include land, social status, political alliances or money. Thus, the 'Anglo-Saxon word 'we dd' meant that the groom would vow to marry the woman, but it also referred to the bride price (money or barter) to be paid by the groom to the bride's father'; (Kendrick). There are equally surprising origins for such traditions as the ring finger, wedding ring, engagement ring (and its diamond), and wedding cake. For example, the finger used as the ring finger differs from culture to culture.

In Greece during the third century the index finger was used. In India they used the thumb. The 'modern'; ring finger started being used in the fourth century when the Greeks originated the belief that the third finger was connected to the heart by the 'vena amor is,' ; or the vein of love. (Kendrick). Use of a wedding ring can be traced back to Roman times, and even back then it was made of gold. Roman rings were often decorated with a carving of two hands to symbolize two people journeying through life together as one.

Early women's rings also had keys carved in them, symbolizing that women were able to unlock the hearts of their husbands. It was 'Pope Nicholas I [in 860 AD, who first] decreed an engagement ring become a required statement of nuptial intent,' ; (Kendrick). He insisted that this ring also be made of gold, it's worth requiring a sacrifice on the man's part for the woman he was about to marry. This ring went up in value in the fifteenth century when a diamond was added to it.

It was believed that the diamond's durability and strength would symbolized the strength of the relationship. Most of these traditions deal with the strength of the relationship (or its worth or value), but there are other wedding traditions that deal (directly or indirectly) with fertility. For example, in the first century BC the Romans began using wedding cakes. However, these cakes weren't eaten, they were either thrown at the bride or broken over her head (Kendrick). This was believed to assure many healthy children for the couple. In more recent times it became common for the couple to save the top tier of their cake to be eaten on their first anniversary.

This originated in the ninetieth century, when the extra tiers of the wedding cake were preserved and served at the christening of the couple's first child, an event that normally occurred about a year after the marriage. A wedding cake is for the most part white. Many would probably say this was to symbolize purity or virginity, but there was actually an economic reason for it. In Victorian times, 'ingredients for the wedding cake were much harder to acquire, especially for the icing. White icing meant that only the finest refined sugar was used, and so the whiter the cake, the more affluent the families involved were perceived,' ; (Cake). Today, most couples have the opportunity to meet and get to know each other (often quite well).

However, this wasn't always the case. Up until the fourteenth century, it was customary for brides to be either kidnapped or purchased from their fathers, whose property they were until marriage (then, unfortunately, they became the property of their husbands). Since purchase was often involved, an ugly daughter was not considered an asset. Thus, the tradition of it being bad luck to see the bride the night before the wedding came into existence. If the unlucky father happened to have an ugly daughter, a husband from as far away as possible would be 'arranged'; for her. It was not uncommon for the groom, upon seeing his unattractive bride the day of the wedding, to leave her standing at the altar.

However, society's (and frustrated fathers') answer to this problem is proof that necessity is the mother of invention. Soon, the tradition of the wedding veil was introduced, a 'curtain'; that couldn't be raised until the ceremony was completed. Once the bride was safely married other problems could arise. For example, during the fourteenth century it was the custom for the bride to toss her garter to the men at the reception. Men being men, they would often get drunk and not wait for the bride to take off her garter; they'd assault her. To protect the bride it quickly became the new husband's responsibility to remove the garter.

It then became customary for the bride to toss her bouquet to unmarried women. However, it was not until recently that people started believing that the woman who caught the bouquet would be next to be married. Regardless of who removed the garter, the bride of old most likely would not have been dressed in white. If her family was well off she would certainly have had a new dress made for her wedding day, but it did not necessarily have to be white. In ancient times, color was not considered in a bridal gown.

It became customary for the bride to wear red or other brightly colored gowns. Greeks and Romans used the color white in any celebration to express joy (Karl 52). It is not clear who first made the white gown popular. Some say it was the wife of Napoleon (Van Ostrom 45), others say it was Ann of Brittany (Kendrick), and still others believe it was Queen Victoria (Mihanovich 144). What is known is that the wedding dress is traditionally only worn once.

This showed a person's affluence. Nearly everyone has heard the old rhyme about what a bride should wear: something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a silver sixpence in her shoe. Many brides abide by it today but most likely, few know what it means. Something old signifies that the bride will stay close to her family. Van Ostrom believes it gives a sense of community and tradition (51).

Something new signifies hope for the future. Something should be borrowed from a happily married friend in hopes that their good luck will rub off on the new couple (Van Ostrom 51). The color blue stems back to Biblical times when this was the color for purity and fidelity. 'Both the bride and the groom usually wore a band of blue material around the bottom of their wedding attire,' ; (Mihanovich 78). The silver sixpence is to wish the bride wealth. Today, we often refer to marriage as tying the knot, an obvious reference to the binding of two lives (and, perhaps, the roping in of the male).

However in Roman times, it was the untying of the knot, or knots, that had greater importance. This is because a Roman bride would often wear a girdle that had many knots tied in it. On the wedding night it was the grooms responsibility (often, most likely, with fumbling fingers) to untie these knots (Kendrick). The honeymoon is considered a time for the new couple to escape all of the pre-wedding stresses and just enjoy relaxing with each other before the pressures of married life set in. Karl says the 'moon'; part of the honeymoon was because customarily the bride and groom would go away for a whole month, or from full moon to full moon (132).

A honey-flavored wine was frequently enjoyed on the getaway. 'Honey was the ancient symbol of life, health, and fertility,' ; (Karl 132). The two words eventually were combined to denote the honeymoon we know today. Wedding cakes and diamond rings, white gowns and garters, veils and ring fingers. These and other traditions of the modern wedding all have their origins in beliefs and superstitions that are centuries old. Planning a modern wedding can be a hectic, nerve wracking experience, and the chaos can often blind the young couple to the true meaning of the ceremony they are about to share.

Perhaps if a modern couple took the time to understand some of the ceremony's customs and traditions their wedding day would have even greater meaning for them.