With this Ring I Thee Wed

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 69, 15 December 1931, Page 30 (Supplement)

With this Ring I Thee Wed

By

M. Robb

Th® world's first recorded brides were married with a ring. The ring was not made of gold, but of iron, according to Pliny, the ancient Roman writer. When tho custom drifted to England, the iron ring tagged along. Sometimes it was the ring on which were suspended the church keys. Later brass replaced the iron, and since curtains were handy, brass curtain rings became the fashion. At one time in merry old England a ring of rush was sufficient, but how was a deluded maiden to know if it was genuine? The lamentable result brought forth in 1217 an 'order from a bishop forbidding men to be deceivers with rush rings, in aock celebration, and then pleading no responsibility. Could a maiden prove by witnesses that the ring had been put on her finger, she was a legal wedded wife whether th® intent was in the husband’s mind or not. Rings of rush, although in the majority, were not used by th® wealthy; nor were curtain rings of spurious metal Ancient history records the occasional use of gold; sometime precious stones adorned the gold; sometime® the ring was a slender circlet similar to those of to-day. Sometimes the gold was twisted to form two clasping hands, or two hearts transfixed with an arrow, or one hand holding a heart securely gripped—depending upon the sentimentality of tho rich husband! However, poor people outnumbered the rich, so gold wedding rings were extraordinary luxuries, and we read that Martin Luther was married with a silver gilt ring. Some of the superstitious think that a marriage lacks validity if the ring is not gold. Lacking money they rent it! Hence some tradesmen earn extra pennies by keeping rings on hand to lend for ceremonies. The Puritans, maintaining that it savoured of paganism, took to preaching against the wed-

ding ring; but they did not succeed ia its abolition, however, perhaps for want) of a' better or for fear their own daughters might be turned back upon them for want of a legal marriage. As for the eventual position into which the wedding ring has finally bs> tied from its many wanderings on ths various fingers of either hand, to th® third finger on the left hand, tradition offers a variety of explanations. Bosides being less used and therefor® less exposed to danger, it was the weaker finger and symbolical of the wife’s dependence. The ancient Egyptians believed that this finger was connected directly with the heart by a small artery. The ancients ascribed all sort of properties to the finger; it was thought to resist disease the longer, and gout could not attack it until the heart had become affected. But the ring is really the most significant detail in the marriage service. The ancient Assyrians, Hebrews, and Greeks used it as a seal for important orders. Literature abounds with examples of kings giving their rings as a sign of authority. In all ages a ring seems to be the symbol of a covenant. Its origin possibly traceable to the time when pledges were made by parties passing their hands through a natural stone ring or hole which was considered sacred. Lovers of the eighteenth century in Orkney plighted their troth through a stone ring, while in Iceland an act of betrothal was confirmed by the bridegroom’s passing his hand through a large ring to clasp the bride’s. The Hindu, though not making us® of the wedding ring, finds its counterpart in symbolisation of the close union by a form of one of the most worldwide wedding rites, namely “the joining of hands.” Here the bride and bridegroom have their hands bound together with grass by the priest White among the Veddahs of Ceylon the bride has a thin cord of her own twisting

bound round the bridegroom’s wrist This “marriage knot” is often quite literally observed by certain tribes tn India as when a boy and girl parade the village with the corners of their tied together. A ring has always signified, in addition to power and confidence, a token binding upon the giver and the receiver. When made of gold, Its significance was greater, for then it added purity of love. Its roundness was a symbol

of endless devotion. Not satisfied with the unspoken significance, some husbands began to engrave the wedding ring presented to their brides. Frequently the message was a warning of what they expected of their spouses, as, for example, when a worthy, patriotic English bishop chose as the motto for his wife’s ring these words, “God make me prolific, obedient and sedulous.” Good taste, however, from the very first days of wedding rings decreed that they should be solid and simple, such as the ring with which the present English king was wedded to Queen Mary. Also it ia true that when the custom grew for women to adorn their fingers with many costly jewels, of necessity, for distinction among so many blazing gems, the wedding ring grew plainer and plainer, a conspicuous token of the wearer’s matrimonial honesty.

j Some students of marriage customs assert that the wedding ring has in . most countries grown out of the be- - trothal ring. Some countries have • both. The engagement ring is by many • women considered more important than [ the wedding ring. Certain countries, i also, consider a betrothal fully as Im- > portant as a bridal, and many men, , notably in the Scandinavian countries and in Scotland, will never marry if their betrothed one dies. The girl in Sweden, however, never : gives up her espousal ring on any condition, and it is always followed by a second ring on her wedding day. Some Swedish women wear a third, signifying motherhood. In olden times the Swedish girl gave her beau a ring and received one in return. The to-be husband also received a betrothal shirt, which becomes his most sacred possession. Every stitch has been sewn by his beloved. He wears it only twice, on his bridal day and when he is laid in his coffin. Should he by a succession of misfortunes lose his first wife and marry a second one he will carefully destroy, the night before his wedding, the shirt his first wife made for him. Tills custom of the presentation of the shirt is one that crops up in many countries, for we find black-eyed Spanish maidens labouring many hours on an elaborately tucked and embroidered affair for her mate, the Bohemian fiance intricately weaving gold thread into a creation of coloured silks for her masculine adorer, and the Austrian damsel honouring her beloved in a similar way.

But many of these charming customs are confined to the peasantry in various lands far from commercial centres where life has assumed a certain uniformity the world around. For example, in the remote Alpine hamlets of Switzerland a marriage proposal is made by the language of flowers. If a maid accepts a bouquet of Edelweiss from a man she at the same time accepts him as her fiance, the idea being that the man has risked his life to obtain the flowers for the woman he loves. Of course, in the metropolitan districts an announcement appears in the newspapers much as it does in this country, an engagement ring appears on the girl's finger, and a stately church wedding follows. To me it is a cause for grief that the quaint customs practised by the naive girls of the provinces should not have spread o the cities.