Where In The Heck Did These Traditions Come From?
By Edtrader, February 3rd , 2023
Have you ever wondered who makes up the things we do every day? Day after day, we follow certain traditions without knowing where they came from.
#6. Ring Finger.
The average married couple wears their wedding rings every day. And it's always the fourth finger on the left hand. Why couldn't it have been the index finger on the right hand? The answer most commonly given is that it's because there is a vein in the left hand's fourth finger that goes directly to the heart.
This was all started by Macrobius Theodosius, a writer from Rome who detailed the findings from Egypt that a single nerve connects from the 'ring finger' to the heart. So Egyptians used this finger among their ceremonies. Unfortunately, that's false, as all fingers connect to the heart the same way. Once the Greeks took over Egypt, they adopted that tradition. It then ran through Europe and on to the Americas.
This practice was formalized in the 1500s, when Henry VIII's son authored The Book of Common Prayer. Which gives English modern Protestant wedding vows and decrees on which finger our wedding rings should go.
#5. God Bless You.
Every time you blow your nose, anyone around you is supposed to go 'Bless You'. And you are to do the same when someone else blows. Now, where does it say civilized humans should do this? Pope Gregory The Great is the main person you have to look at. As the Black Plague swept across Europe under his tenure.
If you so much as sneezed, you were thought to be dying of the plague. So, saying Bless You, you did a couple of things. It was a gesture of good will. But mostly, it was a polite way of saying "We know you are going to die, and we wish you the best".
The origin of the phrase is derived from a papal decree supposedly issued during the reign of Pope Gregory I. He assumed the papacy in 590, at a time when the bubonic plague was raging through Europe. An early sign that the virus had entered a victim was a sneeze. In February of 600 AD, the Pope is credited with suggesting that God’s blessing be offered to anyone who sneezes in order to protect against falling ill.
Have you ever wondered who makes up the things we do every day? Day after day, we follow certain traditions without knowing where they came from.
#6. Ring Finger.
The average married couple wears their wedding rings every day. And it's always the fourth finger on the left hand. Why couldn't it have been the index finger on the right hand? The answer most commonly given is that it's because there is a vein in the left hand's fourth finger that goes directly to the heart.
This was all started by Macrobius Theodosius, a writer from Rome who detailed the findings from Egypt that a single nerve connects from the 'ring finger' to the heart. So Egyptians used this finger among their ceremonies. Unfortunately, that's false, as all fingers connect to the heart the same way. Once the Greeks took over Egypt, they adopted that tradition. It then ran through Europe and on to the Americas.
This practice was formalized in the 1500s, when Henry VIII's son authored The Book of Common Prayer. Which gives English modern Protestant wedding vows and decrees on which finger our wedding rings should go.
#5. God Bless You.
Every time you blow your nose, anyone around you is supposed to go 'Bless You'. And you are to do the same when someone else blows. Now, where does it say civilized humans should do this? Pope Gregory The Great is the main person you have to look at. As the Black Plague swept across Europe under his tenure.
If you so much as sneezed, you were thought to be dying of the plague. So, saying Bless You, you did a couple of things. It was a gesture of good will. But mostly, it was a polite way of saying "We know you are going to die, and we wish you the best".
The origin of the phrase is derived from a papal decree supposedly issued during the reign of Pope Gregory I. He assumed the papacy in 590, at a time when the bubonic plague was raging through Europe. An early sign that the virus had entered a victim was a sneeze. In February of 600 AD, the Pope is credited with suggesting that God’s blessing be offered to anyone who sneezes in order to protect against falling ill.
#4. Handshake.
You meet someone new or an everyday friend, and you are supposed to hold out your hand. And shake the other person's held-out hand. Nowadays, you have to worry about germs spreading this way. But still, it's the normal thing to do. One of the reasons we do handshakes is for personal safety. You have to check if the other person has a weapon in their hand.
Templestudy.com said that it dates to the Romans. who would approach each other and grab the forearm to make sure the other man was not carrying a weapon. However, that might not be the first reason why. The handshake reportedly predates man's written word. The Egyptians used the handshake to physically show a giving demeanor. The Egyptian hieroglyphic of the extended hand represents the verb, ‘to give’. In a behavioral study of handshakes, it was shown that we could be sharing scents unconsciously.
#3. On The Right Side.
All of us in the U.S. drive on the right side of the road. Unless you're drunk or something like that. While most of the rest of the world uses the left side. Why exactly did America have to be different? Did we hate England so much that we had to use the right side as some kind of FU? No, it's due to our use of horses and cattle. As we used to ride carts behind horses and mules, it was common to use our left hands to guide the animals. So, we just started sitting to the right of the carriage, and we also just started driving on the right side as well.
#2. No Beer On Sunday.
All of you drinkers out there in the U.S.A. ever wonder why we can't we buy Bud in certain areas on Sunday? Well, that comes down to what's known as a Blue Law. Which stands from the belief that God set Sunday as a day of rest. Or the Sabbath, if you are into the correct terms. According to Samuel A. Peters’s book, General History of Connecticut, this was nicknamed the Blue Law as it was printed on blue paper. But the blue is more believed to stand for the fact that the laws were morally ridged.
Colonial leaders simply followed the model of such laws in England. However, Sabbath laws mandating a day of rest on Sunday surfaced in the Roman Empire in the 4th century A.D. with the influence of Christianity.
But the law in general can refer to a colony's right to regulate all behavior. In January of 1920, it became a country-wide prohibition on alcohol sales. The 21st Amendment, on December 5th, 1933, made it so that each state could set their own laws for alcohol.
In Seagram & Sons v. Hostetter, a case involving a state statute regulating the price of intoxicating liquors, the Court upheld the statute, asserting that the Twenty-first Amendment bestowed upon the States broad regulatory power over the liquor sales within their territories.
#1. Salute.
Troops that defend the safety of their nation against enemies have to be respected for all they do and everything they mean to a country. The salute is the most common way that soldiers communicate respect to each other. They slightly cupped the hand with their fingers together. The thumb is in touch with the index finger. The upper arm is at a 90-degree angle. Up to the right, even with the brim of your hat.
This has its origins in medieval times. As a soldier or guard, they would raise the front of their helmet shield so they could be seen. As metal helmets were no longer the modern salute, the stance took over.
You meet someone new or an everyday friend, and you are supposed to hold out your hand. And shake the other person's held-out hand. Nowadays, you have to worry about germs spreading this way. But still, it's the normal thing to do. One of the reasons we do handshakes is for personal safety. You have to check if the other person has a weapon in their hand.
Templestudy.com said that it dates to the Romans. who would approach each other and grab the forearm to make sure the other man was not carrying a weapon. However, that might not be the first reason why. The handshake reportedly predates man's written word. The Egyptians used the handshake to physically show a giving demeanor. The Egyptian hieroglyphic of the extended hand represents the verb, ‘to give’. In a behavioral study of handshakes, it was shown that we could be sharing scents unconsciously.
#3. On The Right Side.
All of us in the U.S. drive on the right side of the road. Unless you're drunk or something like that. While most of the rest of the world uses the left side. Why exactly did America have to be different? Did we hate England so much that we had to use the right side as some kind of FU? No, it's due to our use of horses and cattle. As we used to ride carts behind horses and mules, it was common to use our left hands to guide the animals. So, we just started sitting to the right of the carriage, and we also just started driving on the right side as well.
#2. No Beer On Sunday.
All of you drinkers out there in the U.S.A. ever wonder why we can't we buy Bud in certain areas on Sunday? Well, that comes down to what's known as a Blue Law. Which stands from the belief that God set Sunday as a day of rest. Or the Sabbath, if you are into the correct terms. According to Samuel A. Peters’s book, General History of Connecticut, this was nicknamed the Blue Law as it was printed on blue paper. But the blue is more believed to stand for the fact that the laws were morally ridged.
Colonial leaders simply followed the model of such laws in England. However, Sabbath laws mandating a day of rest on Sunday surfaced in the Roman Empire in the 4th century A.D. with the influence of Christianity.
But the law in general can refer to a colony's right to regulate all behavior. In January of 1920, it became a country-wide prohibition on alcohol sales. The 21st Amendment, on December 5th, 1933, made it so that each state could set their own laws for alcohol.
In Seagram & Sons v. Hostetter, a case involving a state statute regulating the price of intoxicating liquors, the Court upheld the statute, asserting that the Twenty-first Amendment bestowed upon the States broad regulatory power over the liquor sales within their territories.
#1. Salute.
Troops that defend the safety of their nation against enemies have to be respected for all they do and everything they mean to a country. The salute is the most common way that soldiers communicate respect to each other. They slightly cupped the hand with their fingers together. The thumb is in touch with the index finger. The upper arm is at a 90-degree angle. Up to the right, even with the brim of your hat.
This has its origins in medieval times. As a soldier or guard, they would raise the front of their helmet shield so they could be seen. As metal helmets were no longer the modern salute, the stance took over.