Each culture, religious, national, and ethnic group has their own unique traditions surrounding marriage and the wedding ceremony. These traditions are as diverse and varied as mankind itself.
Most of the wedding traditions common to the western world date from the time of the Roman Empire and the European Middle Ages.
Each culture has also adopted traditions from other modern and ancient cultures. For example, today in Japan, most couples have a 'western' style wedding ceremony in addition to their Japanese ceremony.
Many couples do not want to be bound by what they consider the outdated traditions followed by earlier generations.
Most parts of the modern Christian wedding service have their roots in the traditional Jewish wedding service.
Since most couples do not know how many of these traditions came into being, this is a brief overview of some of the traditions associated with weddings in the western world.
THE ORIGIN OF THE 'RING FINGER'
In third century Greece the ring finger was the index finger. In India it was the thumb. The western tradition began with the Greeks who believed that the third finger was connected directly to the heart by a route that was called 'the vein of love'.
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