Engagement Rings: How Solid of a Tradition Are They, Anyway?

So, I happened to run into some articles recently about engagement rings, and found out some interesting information on the subject.

Turns out that a tradition that many of us thought went back centuries, if not thousands of years, is not actually all that old, in point of fact.

Kind of makes sense, because when you think about it, most people were far too poor to even think about buying expensive jewelry, especially diamonds.

The tradition is far more recent than most of us might suspect, dating back really only to the days after World War II, when it became far more common. Nor did it necessarily take off as smoothly as some would have wanted. One example that I found actually amusing was that promoters of jewelry tried to popularize the idea of engagement rings for men. That idea was a complete and total failure, never taking off.

Still, engagement rings for women has become almost an automatic, a prerequisite for a man interested in proposing to women these days.

But did you ever wonder why this became a tradition? Much like how Christmas, which is supposed to be a holiday when Christians would remember the birth date of their Lord, Jesus Christ, turned instead into an international shopping holiday where you are supposed to put thought, and are encouraged to spend significant money, to show that you are a good person. Engagement rings are the same idea, designed to get men to spend money on something that not only is not a necessity in life, but actually too often detracts from being able to acquire necessities. The same can be said for expensive wedding with professional photographers, professional dee jays, professional caterers, a prestigious place to host the wedding, and a laundry list of important enough people in your life to attend. The more, the merrier, and you are encouraged to spend tremendous amounts of money to make "your special day" just absolutely perfect.

It makes you wonder about the priorities in our society, doesn't it? These rocks, these diamonds, are often from countries that force laborers to work under virtual slave-like conditions in order to get these precious rocks that are sold and then resold to American markets, where the price is jacked up, and advertisement has people convinced that buying the best, most expensive diamond is, indeed, absolute proof of the quality of your love for a woman.

In any case, here are some articles that might shed some illumination, and get you to think about a subject that, quite frankly, we collectively might not think about nearly enough.

Here are the articles that helped me learn about this subject, and which I used in order to help write this blog entry:

"The Tradition Of Engagement Rings Is Barely A Tradition At All. Guess Who Started It.".by Rollie Williams of Upworthy

http://www.upworthy.com/the-biggest-scam-in-america-is-on-your-or-someone-nearbys-finger?g=2&c=reccon1




"The History of Engagement Rings" by Kelly Bare from yourtango.com:

http://www.rd.com/advice/relationships/the-history-of-engagement-rings/



"Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?" by Edward Jay Epstein, February 1, 1982:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/02/have-you-ever-tried-to-sell-a-diamond/304575/