That's Life: Circle of LoveBy Phyllis McGuire
iBerkshires Columnist
05:03PM / Wednesday, September 30, 2009
A few months after my husband died eight years ago, a friend asked if I intended to keep wearing my wedding ring.
It never occurred to me to remove my wedding ring because I was a widow. It is a constant reminder that love like the circle of a ring has no end.
In our wedding ceremony, my husband and I vowed to be true to each other till death do us part, but death has no dominion over love. True love is forever.
The tradition of the wedding ring took root in Ancient Egypt. Hemp and vine were used to make the rings, which had to be replaced many times as they wore out.
The Egyptians believed that a vein in the third finger of the left hand ran directly to the heart so the wedding ring was placed on that finger. In modern times, medical autopsies disproved the Egyptians' theory, nonetheless the custom continues.
Romans fashioned wedding rings from iron to represent the strength of a couple's bond.
Medieval bridegrooms slipped the wedding ring up and then down three of his bride's fingers, reciting "In the name of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost. Finally, they fixed the ring in place on the third finger of his bride's left hand.
In the British Isles, the wedding ring ritual was not part of wedding ceremonies until the 19th century. Before that time, the groom gave his bride a wedding ring at a party following the ceremony.
 Nowadays when brides- and bridegrooms-to-be shop for wedding rings, they may be surprised to find a wide variety of styles from which to choose. There are Celtic, Irish, Byzantine, antique, designer, Florentine, and religious wedding rings and wedding bands. Some couples select custom-made wedding rings so they may have them decorated with a golf club, a sign of the Zodiac, or a military motif.
Some of the metals used in manufacturing wedding rings are platinum, titanium, white, pink and yellow gold. According to several sources, gold wedding rings are presently most popular, and couples usually buy identical wedding bands, save for the width - men preferring broader ones.
Some couples have the date of their nuptials inscribed on their wedding rings. With that date more or less at their fingertips, a husband may Al be spared the embarrassment of forgetting the couple's wedding anniversary.
It is trendy to have a wedding ring tattooed on your finger. Since a tattooed wedding ring cannot be removed, philanderers will not be able to claim they are unmarried. Neither can such rings be lost or fall off and wind up in the drain of the kitchen or bathroom sink.
Celebrities Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson had wedding rings tattooed on their fingers, but their marriage did not last. Under those circumstances, the individuals involved find their tattooed wedding rings unwelcome reminders of their failed marriage and wish to have them removed. This can be done, but it is an expensive and painful procedure, as is divorce.
Practical people living on modest incomes buy inexpensive wedding rings rather than go into debt to pay for a ring embellished with diamonds.
Wedding receptions can be very expensive, eating up all of a couple's savings. Suzi Orman, financial guru, recommends that couples buy a house before they marry and then hold their wedding celebration there. With the money guests give the couple as wedding gifts, the couple will be able to make a mortgage payment, Orman said.
Good advice, if you have enough money to buy a house before you marry.
My husband and I were married four years before we were able to put a down payment on a house. I would not have wanted to wait that long to become Mrs. William McGuire and the mother of the two children we both welcomed with love. |
