Which hand should you wear your wedding ring on?
People usually wear their wedding ring on the fourth finger, but which hand it goes on depends on the place.
People usually wear their wedding ring on the fourth finger, often called the “ring finger”. However, the hand to wear it on varies from country to country. That’s right, depending on customs and traditions, in the Catholic world, wedding rings can be worn on either the left or the right hand.
In ancient times, in the time of Hippocrates, Greek doctors believed that the fourth finger of the left hand was connected directly to the heart, because of the veins that surround it, one of which was called the “vein of love” (vena amoris). So what better finger than this one – the ring finger on the left – to symbolize the union and love of two people?
That is why in the Western world, most people wear their wedding ring on their left hand, although science has long proven that there is nothing special about the vein in the ring finger of the left hand.
While in America, Canada, Portugal, France, Italy, Slovakia, Switzerland, Croatia and Slovenia, and some other countries, couples wear their wedding rings on their left hand, in Ukraine, Poland, Spain, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela and even Cuba, wedding rings are worn on the ring finger of the right hand. In some places, the right hand is preferred because the Bible described the right side of the body as the best part: “Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power. Your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy” (Ex 15:6).
Is there a right or wrong answer?
Father Pierre-Marie Castaignos, who regularly works with engaged couples, tells us: “There is no theological statement about this event. Left or right hand… The symbol is not the hand that wears it but the ring itself”.
The ring has a strong symbolic meaning of its own: they are a symbol of fidelity in marriage. In the sacrament of marriage they have a specific meaning in relation to God’s faithful mystery with his people in Christ. One of the formulas that the priest can use to bless the rings of the bride and groom is:
Lord bless these rings that we bless in your name.
Grant that those who wear them may always have a deep faith in each other.
May they always live together according to your will and live together in peace, goodwill and love.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
So it doesn’t matter whether you wear your wedding ring on your right or left hand. “The important thing is to wear it as a symbol of dedication, love and fidelity of the couple”.
13:49 Hôm nay
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