On what finger is a wedding ring worn?

[maria_rose]

Here in the United States, when people marry in the Catholic Church, they wear their wedding bands on the ring finger of the left hand. In Europe, especially Germany where I am from, people who marry in the Catholic Church wear their wedding bands on the ring finger of the right hand. Why the difference within the Church practices?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

This isn’t so much a difference in Church practice as it is a difference in cultural practice. Among those peoples who wear a wedding ring on the left hand, the rationale is that the fourth finger of the left hand contains a vein believed to be connected directly to the heart. Placing the ring on that finger symbolizes the emotional bond between the couple. In other cultures, the wedding ring has been placed on the right hand in cultural recognition that the left has, in general, been given negative connotations throughout history (e.g., the Latin word for “left” is sinister).