Why is the wedding ring on the left hand?

Why do we wear the wedding ring on our left hand? It's because the heart is located on the left side of the body. Long ago, it was believed that a single vein ran directly from the left ring finger to the heart. This belief, stemming from around 400 AD in Rome, established the custom of wearing the wedding ring on the left hand, a tradition that persists today.

There are other beliefs related to the heart's position on the left side. For instance, there was a notion that the breast milk from the left breast was more nutritious. In ancient Europe, breast milk was thought to be blood that turned white as it moved to the chest. The left breast, being closer to the heart, was believed to be more nutritious than the right one. Clement of Alexandria, an early Christian theologian, was once quoted as saying, "Breast milk is sweetened and purified blood, and semen is blood whipped to foam." This belief is evident in many paintings from that era, where children are often depicted nursing from the left breast.

Photo: "Madonna of Milk" by the 14th-century Italian painter Ambrogio Lorenzetti.

References

• "Medieval Marriage and Family" by Joseph Gies, Frances Gies, translated by Izumi Kurihara
• "Milk: A 10,000-Year Food Fracas" by Mark Kurlansky, translated by Sachiko Takayama