The hand that you wear the ring on depends on the culture and/or religion. As per American custom, it is traditional for the rings to be worn on the left hand as it was thought to house the "love vein" making it closer to the heart like others have mentioned. Also, men wearing any form of ring as related to marriage is a recent development; in the past women were the ones to wear rings to show that they were claimed, a sexist practice. There was some culture that gave their women puzzle rings with the idea that if you took it off and it came undone, there was some potential hint about infidelity. Total crap, totally sexist. Some cultures also have the betrothal ring worn on the right hand until the actual wedding where the ring is then shifted to the left hand. Greek Orthodox tradition dictates that the ring should be worn on the RIGHT hand because the left hand, the sinister hand, well, you get it, negative left handed conotations.
What else? Oh, I know of people who wear the engagement ring on one hand and then when they have the actual ceremony shift the engagement ring to the other hand to make room for the wedding band. Others wear both engagement and wedding rings on the same hand. Some people only get an engagement ring and upon ceremony the person without the ring gets one so each person only has one ring.
Also, concerning removal of the ring, it is not weird, it's actually what you're supposed to do to care for the piece and for your own health. Taking the ring off to wash up/shower is always a good thing to do, taking it off to dry underneath it is VERY good practice (soap has a nasty habit of getting stuck under rings and can yield some DISGUSTING rashes, I speak from experience), taking it off for TKD is always great to prevent dinging it up or bruising yourself. Any jeweler worth their salt will tell you to do all of those things and to actually take it off at home to preserve the quality- this should be more fervently and religiously applied to jewelry with stones in them. Regular cleaning, drying and polishing are all good practices as well.
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2008-09-29 06:59 pm (UTC)What else? Oh, I know of people who wear the engagement ring on one hand and then when they have the actual ceremony shift the engagement ring to the other hand to make room for the wedding band. Others wear both engagement and wedding rings on the same hand. Some people only get an engagement ring and upon ceremony the person without the ring gets one so each person only has one ring.
Also, concerning removal of the ring, it is not weird, it's actually what you're supposed to do to care for the piece and for your own health. Taking the ring off to wash up/shower is always a good thing to do, taking it off to dry underneath it is VERY good practice (soap has a nasty habit of getting stuck under rings and can yield some DISGUSTING rashes, I speak from experience), taking it off for TKD is always great to prevent dinging it up or bruising yourself. Any jeweler worth their salt will tell you to do all of those things and to actually take it off at home to preserve the quality- this should be more fervently and religiously applied to jewelry with stones in them. Regular cleaning, drying and polishing are all good practices as well.