THE BADGE OF BETROTHAL

Ladies' Mirror, Volume 3, Issue 9, 2 March 1925, Page 29

THE BADGE OF BETROTHAL

"ROMANCE was not associated with engagement rings when they first came into fashion. The engagement ring is said to have originated as an institution to hold the fickle and forgetful man to his bargain from the time he declared his passion, until the wedding ceremony took place. It was during the second century b.c. that women began to flash an engagement ring on the fourth finger of the left hand as a symbol of betrothal. It was displayed on that particular finger because of the belief, prevalent at the time, that a special vein ran from that finger to the heart. Later, this idea was scouted and other fingers became fashionable. In Russia the ring was worn on the forefinger, and in France on the middle finger, while during the seventeenth century English women wore the ring on the thumb.

A T one time the engagement ring consisted of three hoops looped together into what was known as a puzzle ring. On the wedding day one of these rings was given to the bridegroom, another to an intimate friend, and the bride kept the remaining hoop. For many centuries the engagement ring did duty as a wedding ring as well. The wedding ring, also, was not given from sentimental motives, but was at the start an article almost as practical as a fry-ing-pan ! The wife was given a plain gold ring with a key attached, so that she, and she only, could have access to household goods. The wedding ring was adopted by the Anglo-Saxons about a.d. 860. During the generations since then it has been alternately plain and elaborate. Very often the rings were inscribed in a puzzling fashion by interlocking the names of bride and bridegroom.