Cultural Mishap

On which hand does an engaged lady wear her ring on? Right? Left? What?

Tradition dictates that the engagement ring goes on the left hand, it’s traced back to ancient beliefs of Romans assuming that the vein in the fourth finger of the left hand ran to straight to the heart, the ‘Vena Amoris’ – the ‘Vein of Love’. (A brief argument with my brother studying medicine in his fifth year proved that ‘Vena Amoris’ does not exist – way to burst a bubble!)

Anyway… it appears to be that having my engagement ring on my right hand defeated any purpose of my fiancé marking his territory as it also does not exist in the UK, or so I’ve experienced.

Apparently, and I have deducted this from the many conversations and confused faces of people I have met, and research confirmed, that the engagement ring is meant to go on the left hand in some societies.

In my culture, in order to differentiate between a wife and a fiancé, the ring is placed on her right hand, until the wedding vows, where the ring is moved to the left finger. What has also struck me was that the man does not wear an engagement ring, contrary to men back home, who also wear it on their right hand once engaged, and left hand once married. Oh, we also have a small priest ceremony for exchanging the rings during the ‘Engagement Party’, which also seems a myth for most people I have conversed with here.

But as the saying goes… you learn something new every day!