Summer is the season for love, with nuptials and the exchange of wedding rings being traditional parts of the sacred marriage ritual.
Wearing the wedding ring on a specific finger and hand is among many social traditions in different cultures and countries. In America, the ring finger is the fourth finger on the left hand.
How did the left-hand ring finger tradition start in America?
According to ancient tradition, the ring finger is the fourth finger on the left hand.
Why the left hand? Why the fourth finger on the left hand? And why do we still follow this ancient tradition?
During ancient times, the Egyptians believed there was a vein in the fourth finger of the left hand that connected or led to the heart, the symbol of love. The vein is called the vena amoris, the vein of love. Although we have long known that all fingers have veins that lead to the heart, the romantic notion about the fourth finger lives on.
Many cultures, including ours, observe this left-hand finger tradition in the exchange of marriage rings. The bride and groom interchangeably place the ring on the fourth finger of the left hand.
It took a while for me to get used to wearing my engagement ring on my left hand and likewise for my wedding ring. Before being engaged, I only wore rings on my right hand. It seems practical to wear your wedding ring on either your right or left hand based on whether you’re right or left-handed.
The tradition in some countries, including Spain, Germany, Norway, and Russia, the ring finger is on the right hand. In countries such as Lebanon, Turkey, and Syria, the ring is worn on the right hand and then moved to the left hand on the wedding day.
Of all the wedding traditions people break, the ring finger tradition is not usually one of them. The particular countries’ norms and traditions relative to the ring finger are most often respected and accepted.
But those who want to break with the ring finger tradition will not be the first because there’s nothing new under the sun! People have even used the thumb as a ring finger.
Is the ring finger the third or fourth finger on the left or right hand? The answer to this question is technical and not based on an individual’s perspective, math, or beginning point.
Maybe we should ask another question first. Is the thumb a finger?
Cambridge English Dictionary describes a finger as “Any of the long, thin, separate parts of the hand, especially those that are not thumbs.”
Merriam-Webster English Dictionary states a finger is “Any of the five terminating members of the hand: a digit of the forelimb especially: one other than the thumb.”
Oxford English Dictionary defines a finger as “Each of the four slender jointed parts attached to either hand (or five, if the thumb is included).”
The first digit but non-finger of the hand is the thumb.
The index finger is the second digit but the first finger or forefinger and is also called the pointer finger.
The second finger or third index is the middle finger, the longest of all the digits.
The third finger or fourth digit is the ring finger. A ring on this finger symbolizes devotion and love to the person who placed it there.
Technically, the ring finger is the fourth digit or third finger.
The fifth or last digit is the little finger called the pinky or pinkie.
Like so many brides, I kept the ring finger tradition and didn’t know anything about the ‘vein of love,’ Whether the ring finger is on the left or right hand, love must be in the heart.
And we will continue to call the ring finger the fourth finger instead of the third, even though the thumb isn’t a finger
Be safe.