26-06-2026, 03:41 PM
Rings are for brides: no, not really, not always and not everywhere.
The ring ceremony was later pushed by christian churches, but not ubiquitary and common at beginning of 15th century.
Even more, Christianity had not full grip to whole of Europe at that time; some folks refused christian beliefs until even centuries after VMS period.
So here we have a problem not only with restrictions of little-known ring weddings, but also in connecting christianity with the ring (symbol) itself: there are just no deeper links between Christ and rings.
It is even very hard to find religious christian imagery containing ring pictures of any substantial meaning, or at all.
I could add here that some european cultures already had deep meanings for rings, like rejecting evil spirits, long before.
In one of them it was customs that a new-wed bride ritually bathed with all women of her village and gifted rings of copper and brass to her guests at the end. (Sauna-based, but these folks had an intense bathing culture also tight relations to any water bodies). Could also add that it was seen as very bad luck to bring a cross into the bath (but I lost the source a bit ago, so I should not say it ^^). Still it's fun to review f 79v drawing under this setting.
Needless to say this was a pre-christian ritual and it stayed for long -- they "accepted" forcefully the Orthodox christianity centuries later.
And needless to point that out here;
but the intro statement of this thread is a bit "short".
The ring ceremony was later pushed by christian churches, but not ubiquitary and common at beginning of 15th century.
Even more, Christianity had not full grip to whole of Europe at that time; some folks refused christian beliefs until even centuries after VMS period.
So here we have a problem not only with restrictions of little-known ring weddings, but also in connecting christianity with the ring (symbol) itself: there are just no deeper links between Christ and rings.
It is even very hard to find religious christian imagery containing ring pictures of any substantial meaning, or at all.
I could add here that some european cultures already had deep meanings for rings, like rejecting evil spirits, long before.
In one of them it was customs that a new-wed bride ritually bathed with all women of her village and gifted rings of copper and brass to her guests at the end. (Sauna-based, but these folks had an intense bathing culture also tight relations to any water bodies). Could also add that it was seen as very bad luck to bring a cross into the bath (but I lost the source a bit ago, so I should not say it ^^). Still it's fun to review f 79v drawing under this setting.
Needless to say this was a pre-christian ritual and it stayed for long -- they "accepted" forcefully the Orthodox christianity centuries later.
And needless to point that out here;
but the intro statement of this thread is a bit "short".