Many of us choose gold for a wedding band, but there are a growing number of people who choose silver for their wedding band. This may not be the biggest news that one could hear, but if one looks a little closer at silver and the nature of silver, both in terms of its natural qualities and in terms of its rich symbolism, such news can become a bit more interesting. While silver may never take the place of gold for most people when it comes to choosing wedding bands, it has gained some ground.
Silver has been used by humans for thousands of years, perhaps not as wedding bands for all of that time, butit holds a long and rich history as a choice for jewelry and coinage. The Lydians used a silver coin in 700 BC, and that use spread throughout the Mediterranean. Even in today’s world of credit cards and electronic funds, silver coins are still used and often a highly sought after form of currency around the world.
Perhaps a bit more interesting, however, especially when thought of in the light of using silver for a wedding band, is the symbolic history of silver. Silver has long symbolized purity. This comes from its similarity in color to the moon, considered for thousands of years a pure body set above the earth. This connection with purity is clearly an enticing draw for using it in one’s wedding ring.
Silver for centuries has been considered a bane to such mythological creatures as vampires and werewolves. Such creatures are certainly not a concern when thinking about wedding bands, but this does bring up some interesting points. Vampires and werewolves were considered to be impure creatures whose blood was tainted. Silver has been used since the time of the Greeks and Romans as an antimicrobial agent, acting against agents of impurity found in the blood. Silver was used as a treatment to prevent infection prior to the discovery of antibiotics in the early years of the 20th century. Science has since proved that silver does, in fact, have antimicrobial properties, and it is still used to treat burns in such creams as silver sulfadiazine. Scientists continue to discover and utilize new means of integrating silver into everyday objects, such as clothing, as bacteria and algae do not build up a resistance to its antimicrobial properties, the way they do with antibiotics.
It is clear to see why silver would be such a lasting choice as a wedding band. Its representation of purity is a strong image for the pure idea of the wedding. Its highly reflective white-grey color accentuates and invigorates when silver is set on a finger as a wedding band in the wedding ceremony. The silver wedding band may not be as glamorous or as popular as the gold wedding band today, but the silver wedding band is every bit as rich in symbolism and meaning.
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