What's the Big Deal About Engagement Ring? A Little History and Culture of Engagement Ring

An Engagement ring is a ring that shows the person wearing it is betrothed to be married. In Nigeria, engagement rings are worn mostly by women, and rings can feature diamonds or other gemstones. When a man woos a woman he wants to marry, he presents an engagement ring to her while he proposes marriage or directly after she accepts his marriage proposal. It represents a formal agreement to future marriage.

The word “betrothed” comes from the Anglo-Saxon word “troweth,” which means truth.  In medieval England, a betrothed couple shared a “truth” or “pledge” to marry, and a ring served as the outward sign that a woman was promised to another. Before the engagement ring became a tradition, only royalty and the affluent had engagement rings that were typically gemstones encased in metal. It has always been a sort of "contract" between couple.

Below are some information on history and traditions through the ages and various cultures.

Engagement rings have been credited to Ancient Egypt, but an instance of exchanging rings can also be traced to Ancient Greece and Rome too.

In ancient Greece married couples weren't the only people who gifted each other gold jewels for their fingers — lovers did too (but with the inclination that they'd tie the knot soon enough)

In Ancient Egypt, men wore rings to symbolize their wealth, hence sharing one with their wife to represent the joint ownership of riches, the Egyptians wore their engagement ring on the ring finger and believed that the vein in the "ring finger" was directly connected to the heart.

Ancient Rome took the exchange one step further by having a betrothed couple's parents exchange tokens too. The Romans agreed and gave rings to their fiancé to prove their "ownership" of her to others.

In the Middle Ages, the Christian groom would give gemstones to the fiancé’s parents to show his intent for marrying her. Then he would place a ring on three of his bride's fingers to symbolize their belief in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The issue about period of engagement also arose in the Middle Ages, when, Pope Innocent III instituted a mandatory waiting period between betrothal and marriage.

In the 18th century, diamonds were found in large quantities in Brazil, making the diamond engagement ring more accessible. It the late 1800's an even larger supply of diamonds was found in South Africa, causing the prices for diamonds to drop. De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd was in charge of mining it. They launched "A Diamond is Forever", marketing campaign to re-invigorate the diamond industry when it was going down. It was successful because it convinced families to retain their diamonds as heirlooms which caused a new demand for diamonds.

Today in Nigeria, diamond engagement or wedding rings represents social class. Social elite present diamond rings as a gift to their spouse to show how wealthy they are. This trend could be found more with people in the entertaining industries, billionaire heir and heiress and the royal families.

image by: bride.com