Engagement Traditions

An engagement refers to a promise of marriage between two people. It also refers to section of time spent between the proposal and the marriage. Extremely long engagements used to be quite common, as the parents would arrange for the marriage of their children while they were still young- several years under the matrimonial age. Nowadays, it is more common for the engagement to be arranged by the couple themselves.

The concept of having an engagement period between the proposal and the marriage ceremony might have begun with an announcement from Pope Innocent III in 1215. At the Fourth Lateran Council, he declared that marriages should be publicly announced by the priests of the churches for a predetermined amount of time, so that if there were any impediments or illegitimacies, then they could be clarified and sorted out.

Different engagement rituals vary according to the culture. In the United States, it is traditional for the man to get down on bended knee in front of the woman and offer up the non conflict diamond ring. In India, a gosling is the customary engagement gift. Chinese women must find a suitable return gift for the man after accepting his proposal. In Cajun, the man proposes by placing a small chunk of ice on the woman's foot.

In Western culture, engagement rings are ubiquitously associated with marriage. Tradition dictates that the engagement ring is worn by the woman as a declaration of her betrothal. It is becoming more common in the United States and Canada for the woman to buy the engagement ring, or for the couple to go shopping for matching best value diamonds together.

The earliest use of jewelry to signify a strong relationship or bond with another person was through chains and bracelets. The concept of using the ring evolved from that shape. In Ancient Egypt, the ring was also the symbol of the sacred moon and sun gods. The circular shape represented an eternal bond. The hole in the center of the ring was symbolic for a doorway into the unknown.

The popular belief is that Maximilian I; the Holy Roman Emperor, was the earliest known person to use an engagement ring. In 1477 he asked for Mary of Burgundy's hand in marriage and presented her with a diamond ring.

In some South American cultures, both partners in the couple wear an engagement ring. The engagement ring is made out of silver while the wedding band is made out of gold. Norwegian culture dictates that both the man and the woman wear the engagement ring. In Brazil, both people wear gold wedding rings and do not have an engagement ring. While they are engaged, they wear the ring on their right hand and switch it over after they marry.

The jewelry industry leaps upon every available opportunity to make new ring traditions. Nowadays, some wedding rings are designed in two halves. The woman wears one half as an engagement ring and then the other half after she gets married. When they are placed onto the finger, they look like the same ring.

The engagement ring is worn on the fourth finger of the left hand in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, and Australia. Continental Europe and some other countries wear it on the other hand instead.

The reason that the fourth finger is the ring finger in these cultures is because it is believed to contain the vena amoris, Latin for the "vein of love." The vein of love supposedly runs in a direct line from the ring finger to the heart.