I work for a London Jewellery manufacturer and we have always made
’Russian Wedding Rings’. I have been asked why ‘Russian’? I have
tried to research the term and understand that in Elizabethan times a
ring was made which was known as a Gimmal ring, being 3 or 5 bands
interlocked to-gether. I know that the 3 bands represent a man, a
woman and god or as the holy trinity, but I can not find where the
Russian part comes from. Can you shed any light on this subject.
helen i anslow
I do not know anything about Russian wedding rings, but, in music,
the number five seems to have played an important role, esp. in the
music of Rimsky Korsakov, Scriabin and even more so in Modest
Mussorgsky, who was nobility and deplored the ‘modernization’ of
Russia. Five of something in Russian art of the last half of the 19th
century can stand for god, the fatherland, the tzar, the nobility and
the peasants (the ‘right’ order) or for god, Russia, the tzar and men
and women (those who could afford jewelry). In music, the scale with
5 whole tones is often called the Russian one, although, later Bela
Bartok, who was Hungarian, used it to great effect. Or maybe this has
nothing to do it. Best, Will