It would be wrong to say that rings are only a tribute to fashion, serving solely decorative purposes. For a great while, some rings have been treated as occult or religious attributes; some have been used to seal papers; others were used as a mark of one's social status, rank, or power. Nowadays, some of these old traditions connected to wearing rings have been lost and forgotten, but there are still many cultures that consider rings symbolic, valuable, and an important part of their traditions and rituals, such as weddings, engagements, and others. You are sure to find much interesting information in this article if you admire rings and are interested in learning more about their varieties, their symbolic meanings, and the history of their emergence.
Wearing a mother’s ring is especially symbolical. A woman puts it on after giving birth to her first baby; at that time there is only one stone to decorate her mother’s ring. After the second child is born, the second gemstone is to be added to the mother's ring. The more children a mother has, the more gemstones decorate her mother’s ring.
Sometimes gemstones in the mother’s ring are of the same kind, shape, and color, but usually each gem corresponds to a child's date of birth. The tradition of wearing a mother’s ring is popular only in the US, Canada, and some European countries.
Interlocking ring is a ring type that consists of several rings (typically an even number) connected to each other to form a complete jewelry piece. Usually, these rings are designed and connected in such a way that protects them from falling apart; sometimes, bands of an interlocking ring are held together by a special fastener which enables the rings to part into two or more separate jewelry items. The second fastening type is common for traditional Irish Gimmal rings. However, Gimmal rings are special symbolic engagement rings, while the common interlocking rings rarely have any symbolic meaning.
A Cartier interlocking ring consists of three joined bands. Normally, these bands are made of three different metals - platinum, yellow gold, and pink gold, which symbolize friendship, fidelity, and love. Cartier rings are believed to be ideal rings both for engagement and wedding, for the metals included possess some magical power to preserve love and to make marriage happy and long-lasting. The name of this type of interlocking ring originally came from the name Cartier, the company that invented this unusual design. Today, the Cartier type of interlocking ring is a common part of the jewelry nomenclature of numerous jewelry factories and jewelry makers.
This ring, crafted in the shape of two hands holding a crowned heart, is the classical Claddagh ring, which bears the name of the village in which it was invented. Claddagh rings were a type of engagement ring popular during the age of the Renaissance. There are many variations of this ring. For example, the Dublin variant of Claddagh ring is crafted in the shape of hands shielding a heart. These rings are similar to Fede rings, which are popular in Italy and are handclasp-shaped; "fede" in Italian means faith.
Gimmal rings were the variety of the Claddagh engagement rings popular during the age of the Renaissance. A Gimmal ring usually consists of three bands, each bearing a specific element: a right palm, a left palm, or a heart. When joined together, these bands look like two hands holding a heart.
Interestingly, the name "gimmel" (sometimes spelled "gimmal") was derived from the letter "gimel", which is the third letter of the Hebrew alphabet. However, the tradition of wearing this type of ring comes from Ireland. One of the three bands was worn by the groom, one was worn by the bride, and the third band remained with the priest who would perform the wedding ceremony. The ceremony was to be the moment when the three bands would be rejoined into one. The more modern tradition is to give the third band to the best man.
A signet ring is a ring with an image of the heraldic insignia of a family or of the ring-owner’s initials. The tradition of wearing signet rings was widely popular in the Middle Ages, when signets were used for sealing letters or signing documents. These rings were a common accessory of governors and nobility up until the 19th century. Such finger rings were typically male jewelry, normally worn on the little finger of the left hand with the image facing the ring's owner.
Nowadays, signet rings don’t bear the important meaning they had earlier. Instead, they usually are worn for decorative purpose and traditionally are given to western graduates, but more in the memory of tradition than as a symbol of power or status.