An engagement ring is a ring that symbolizes one is betrothed – engaged to be married. Custom dictates that women wear engagement rings. While there is evidence suggesting engagement rings date back to the Roman Empire, a ring became a common token of engagement only in the late 19th century. Still, it seems the Western custom stemmed from a diamond ring given by Maximilian I of Austria as an engagement present to Mary, Duchess of Burgundy in 1477.
By the end of the 19th century, a variety of gifts were acceptable as engagement tokens. The custom of presenting a woman with a diamond engagement ring stemmed from a commercial concept introduced by the diamond giant De Beers. The company – looking for a way to boost diamond sales – chose an unusual approached and contracted an advertising firm to encourage Hollywood actresses to wear diamonds. The campaign was a success, sales recovered, and by the 1940s, it seemed diamond engagement rings had been around for centuries.
The campaign’s slogan, ‘A Diamond is Forever’, conceived in 1947, sent De Beers’ sales soaring and cemented the presentation of diamond engagement rings as tradition; and since the mid 1960s, about 80% of woman in the United States are presented with diamond rings as and engagement present.
Though the custom of offering a ring during a marriage proposal is a Christian one, originating from the US and the UK, it is also very common in Israel.
Traditionally, an engagement ring is worn on the fourth finger of the left hand. It is believed that the custom stems from the Roman belief that this finger is where the “Vena Amoris” – the “vein of love” – which runs directly from the heart to the fourth finger, lies.
