Engagement ring
An engagement ring is a ring that symbolizes the promise to marry someone else . The marriage promise is connected with the handover. Engagement rings are usually made of gold , white gold , silver or platinum , but stainless steel , tungsten carbide and titanium are also used.
history
The invention of the engagement ring goes back to Pope Stephen I , who was an advocate of the indissolubility of marriage . The engagement ring should be given by the future husband to the future wife in order to reinforce their mutual promise of fidelity.
In the early Middle Ages and in Roman antiquity, the bride's engagement ring served as a confirmation of receipt of the dowry . Back then it was common to wear an iron engagement ring. The tradition of proposing marriage with a gold engagement ring can be traced back to a marketing campaign by the still largest diamond producer De Beers . Here the diamond ring was advertised excessively as an engagement gift and the modern trend started. In 1947 French copywriter Francis Gerety wrote the slogan " A diamond is forever ", which has made the diamond a symbol of the unbreakable love. 20 years later, 80 percent of engaged women in the United States wore a gold ring with a diamond. The first handover of an engagement ring with diamond goes back to the year 1477, when Archduke Maximilian I of Habsburg got engaged to Maria of Burgundy . The symbolism of the engagement ring is also traditional in the form of a circle that has no end and is intended to represent an expression of eternity .
In the 20th century, rings were often worn by both fiancés in Germany. These were only bought after the engagement and were also used as wedding rings.
present
With the decline in the legal importance of engagement in German society, traditions lost their importance. Nowadays the form of the marriage proposal and the way of wearing the ring or rings are individually different.
In Germany it is still mostly the man who buys the engagement ring. The North American form of application is now widespread, in which only the woman is presented with a ring set with a light-colored gemstone , often a diamond .
The partners usually choose the wedding rings together. The engagement ring is then either no longer worn or worn as a stacking ring.
Carrying method
In Germany and Austria, the ring was traditionally worn on the ring finger of the left hand from the engagement , the handover and announcement of the couple's solidarity to the wedding . This custom goes back to the old idea of the vena amoris (love vein), which was believed to lead from the ring finger of the left hand directly to the heart. After the wedding, the ring could either stay there or switch to the wedding ring on the ring finger of the right hand as a stacking ring.
Engagement rings in the United States
Most engagement rings in the world are sold in the United States. According to various surveys and studies, the average sales price of an engagement ring in the USA is said to be between 2500 and 6000 US dollars. Engagement rings are expected to generate around 7 to 13% of the total jewelry market, which in 2010 was said to have been around 60 billion US dollars.
In the United States and the rest of North America , the engagement ring, and later the wedding ring, is worn on the ring finger of the left hand. After the wedding, the engagement ring is worn as a stacking ring on the ring finger.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ De Beers myth: Do people spend a month's salary on a diamond engagement ring? - BBC News. In: BBC News. Retrieved March 24, 2016 (UK English).
- ↑ The marriage between the engagement ring and the diamond. July 25, 2017. Retrieved November 10, 2017 .