Slavic wedding rings

The wedding ceremony is the oldest and is part of the culture of all the peoples of the world. One of the most beautiful and serious wedding ceremonies is Slavic. It observes all the traditions that permeate both the triumph itself and the paraphernalia. Slavic wedding rings are not only symbolic in themselves, but also protect the young family.

B. A. Rybakov identifies several types of family Slavic charms:

• A bird that humbly sits in a nest personifies family life.
• Images of spoons as a symbol of satiety, or more precisely, a symbol of material condition.
• Key. It was believed that he was guarding the property.
• The jaw of a predator is a charm from evil and dark forces. It is considered the most ancient amulet of the Slavs.

But a wedding man, nowadays popular, is missing from Rybakov’s study of two volumes. Does this symbol mean only a myth and a beautiful story, invented in modern society?

As you know, the appointment of a wedding specialist to protect family and love. But it is also known that in antiquity marriages were for the most part calculated and love was never discussed.

It is also believed that in addition to the newlyweds, it was customary to give engagement rings to people raising children alone. On the one hand, the ancients believed that such a gift in the form of a ring was to preserve the energy of the family. But on the other hand, the ring made an alliance with loneliness.

The most popular motive for the wedding rings of the Slavs was the swastika. It had about 50 meanings and interpretations, the main of which was a symbol of eternal life and the cycle of life. The symbol resembled the sun and personified the victory of good over evil.

The outlines of the swastika on paired jewelry meant endless fidelity and love, as well as overcoming all difficulties and a joint rebirth after death.

The most popular amulet and symbol were jewelry with a wedding. The symbol represents two swastikas - red and blue, personifying the male and female principles, as well as the plexus of the two genera. Symbols do not close in a circle, which means that the family lives not only in their world, but also in the tribe. Wedding has no sharp corners, which indicates smoothness and peace.

Eight rays represent eight children whom the spouses gave to parents and gods as payment. Four gave a mother, four father. And the ninth child, the first-born, was presented by both parents to his Family.

Wedding rings adorned the sign of Solard. It is also made in the form of a swastika and means fertility and femininity.

Another symbol for engagement rings is the Odal rune. It symbolizes the continuation of the family, homeland and property, but the main value is the preservation of material values ​​in the family.

For women, wedding products were decorated with the symbols of Mokos - Mother Earth. They were depicted on the rings as a square divided into four parts.

For the manufacture of Slavic wedding rings I used mainly bronze, copper and gold. Silver was considered a rare and expensive metal, and the owners of such jewelry could only be envied.

But, despite the availability of silver these days, it is still not recommended for use in the manufacture of wedding jewelry, since it is short-lived and loses its shape over time.

The most popular rings in the Slavic style are white gold items. They are similar to silver, but differ in durability.

Cast jewelry with an engraved pattern is not inferior to them in popularity.

In Russia, the rules for wearing engagement rings have always been respected. After passing the rite of engagement and criticism by the bride and groom, the young people exchanged amulets and put them on each other on the ring fingers of their right hands.

Immediately after the wedding itself, other rings were already worn on the same finger of only the left hand.

With the advent of Orthodoxy, part of the tradition has sunk into oblivion, and now the newlyweds are limited only to wedding rings that they put on each other after the wedding on their right hand.

The wedding rings of the Slavs differed from the engagement rings in that the former should be exactly the same, and the latter could differ, depending on the amulets applied to them.