Tying the Knot

We have the ancient Egyptians to thank for setting us on the road to today’s $40,000-plus weddings. They came up with the idea of getting engaged, to make sure a couple was compatible, as well as throwing rice or grain (symbolic of fertility) at the ceremony. Originally, however, the dowry was reversed, with the groom paying the bride’s family. (“Wedding” comes from the Anglo-Saxon word “wedd,” meaning “pledge” as well as “bet” or “wager,” a guarantee paid by the groom once a marriage was negotiated.)
Couples have been exchanging wedding rings since Pharoah’s time, too, though it was the ancient Romans who decided the ring should go on the third finger, which they believed was connected straight to the heart. This tradition was cemented in medieval times by Christian grooms who placed the wedding ring in turn on the first three fingers, for God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, leaving it on the last. Traditions differed on right versus left hand, but in England a 1549 edict by Edward VI settled the question in favor of the left.