| The tradition of engagement rings has been | | | | more money available and engagement rings |
| embedded in western culture for over a millennia. | | | | became a more common place occurrence. During |
| The concept is that a woman is presented with | | | | this period to be betrothed was a serious matter |
| an engagement ring as a gesture of a mans | | | | and it was not taken likely, as with many |
| intention to wed her. The ring is worn until the | | | | traditional values this has dissolved these days and |
| wedding day when it is replaced during a wedding | | | | divorce and broken engagements are |
| ceremony by the wedding ring. The engagement | | | | commonplace. |
| ring is then is either worn with the wedding ring or | | | | Depending on where you live the laws differ |
| put in storage. The wedding ring is a symbol of | | | | around this subject. In certain states of the United |
| the marriage commitment and deeply ingrained in | | | | States of America the ring is the property of the |
| western religious practices. | | | | person giving it, as it represents a commitment to |
| Engagement rings started in classical period where | | | | marry. If this is not honoured then the ring has to |
| Aristotelian natural sciences believed that a vein | | | | be returned to the donor irrelevant of who is |
| from the finger of the left hand was linked | | | | seen to be at fault for the dissolution of the |
| directly to the heart, so a ring worn on that finger | | | | engagement. In other places it is understood that |
| was representative of being directly linked to the | | | | the ring is a gift and becomes legal property of |
| heart. In Western culture the ring was introduced | | | | the recipient after the donor has handed it over. |
| as a symbol of betrothment after the Pope | | | | Engagement rings today take many forms |
| Innocent III, who ruled around 1215, introduced a | | | | however after a massive advertising campaign in |
| period of waiting before people were married. | | | | the 1940s a leading diamond manufacturer |
| At that feudal point in history wealth was not | | | | basically said that you do not love your fiance |
| spread around and only the nobility and the church | | | | unless you give her a diamond. This changed |
| had money to purchase precious stones. The | | | | popular culture and now diamond solitaire |
| feudal period lasted well into the sixteenth century | | | | engagement rings are the most popular. Other |
| and during that time the proletarians would use | | | | forms of engagement rings are birth stones, or |
| whatever they could get their hands on, such as | | | | precious stones, whose initials are an acronym for |
| metal or wooden bands. As it is today, | | | | a message such as beloved, love or dearest. |
| engagement rings became a status symbol and | | | | The engagement ring is a symbol of love and |
| the very rich would have elaborate engagement | | | | intent to wed, many couples who do not believe |
| rings designed with precious stones encrusted in | | | | in marriage will still wear rings on their fingers |
| them. Plain bands are still used today in certain | | | | called commitment rings. This practice has |
| countries mainly around Lutheran Europe. | | | | survived over two millennia and countless empires |
| As the feudal system began to dissolve through | | | | and today engagement rings are big business, as |
| the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with | | | | it is not only a symbol of love but a status |
| the emergence of the merchant class or what is | | | | symbol. |
| referred to today as the middle class, there was | | | | |