Marriage is something that exists within almost every culture in the world. However, the way that people wear wedding rings varies depending on where you are. The ring is seen as a universal symbol of love and unity and comes in all manner of shapes, sizes, and materials. We will explore the various wedding ring traditions across the globe, let’s first take a look at sterling silver wedding rings and bands of the Native American of North America. The Zuni are known for their turquoise bands and. their turquoise coral bands. The Navajo and Hopi also create sterling silver wedding bands often with stamped designs and other motifs such as the roadrunner, the sunrise and sunset, love arrows and more. If you like a splash of color in your jewelry, then you will no doubt appreciate the style of wedding ring worn by the many Native American tribes These are almost always made of sterling silver and feature vibrant semi-precious stones such as turquoise, coral, mother of pearl, onyx and more.
In Ireland there are many different types of Celtic bands that are popular for wedding bands and wedding rings. Often the Claddagh motif is used in the design of Celtic wedding bands as it represents love loyalty and friendship. Another popular Celtic wedding band are the Celtic knot bands that are often symbolic and /or religious as well.
Up until the past century in America, wedding rings were mostly worn by women, although the Christian church promoted exchanging wedding rings as a way of keeping men faithful. Dual rings only caught on during WWII when American and European soldiers wore wedding rings as a way to remember their wives and sweethearts back home. The tradition continued through the Korean War. After this wedding bands for men caught on among civilians as well as soldiers. They were generally plain bands as they were meant to reflect and to remember the one back home.
Just a mini snapshot into the history of the wedding band in a few cultures … of course now in the contemporary world a wedding band can be a plain band, a band with gemstones, turquoise, coral, onyx or a band with animals, such as bears, tigers, skulls, or southwestern, boho designs or just about anything you can think of ….perhaps a poison ring ……