Here at Turtle Love Co. we like to get down to the bottom of the story. It is widely accepted around the world that engagement rings and wedding bands are shared between partners as a symbol of love, commitment, and trust. But why? We did a little sleuthing and found some really interesting answers!
The ancient Egyptians were some of the first people to wear rings. The shape that has no beginning and no end symbolized the sun and moon deities worshiped at the time. A ring was representative of the cyclical nature of all life while the opening was seen as a doorway to new and unknown adventures. The rings of the ancient Egyptians were often woven from the rushes growing abundantly along the Nile, and were worn on the third finger of the left hand.
We wanted to know why that particular finger has always been favored (on the left hand in our part of the world, but often the right in other cultures), and we came across the term vena amoris. The Egyptians believed that there was a vein connecting the ring finger and the heart, and later the Romans gave it the name that means “vein of love.” We think that’s really cool, even though we now know that love doesn’t flow in the veins. (There’s definitely something to be said for the extension of disbelief!)
In our sleuthing, we also discovered that diamond engagement rings only entered the realm of tradition sometime in the early 1900’s after the discovery of diamond mines in South Africa made the stone more available to the everyday person. Before diamonds became the gem of choice, many betrothal and engagement rings were set with colorful birthstones like garnet, amethyst, topaz, and peridot. These stones have unique properties and corresponding legends that deserve their own blog posts!
Meanwhile, check out some of our colorful engagement rings: they hint at tradition but have an eye-catching individuality. In fact, you could start your own tradition!
