There is a video on YouTube with over 100,000 views which attempts to explain why married couples should wear a wedding ring on the “ring finger.” Someone that I know posted a link to a copy of it recently and it leaves a few things to be desired:

While it is interesting, they do not explain why we don’t wear a ring on our thumbs to represent ourselves living in our parents’ house. We do not wear a ring on our pinkies to represent the children living under our roofs. Why do we wear a ring then?

It turns out that the wedding rings have a different origin, the “vena amoris” (“love vein”). This is how it is said on Wikipedia:

According to tradition in some countries (derived from Roman belief), the wedding ring is worn on the left ring finger because the vein in the left ring finger, referred to as the vena amoris was believed to be directly connected to the heart, a symbol of love, the left side being probably since the heart is on the left side of the body.

[Another page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vena_amoris) says this:

The earliest use of jewelry to signify a bonding was often literally chains and bracelets. This evolved to the use of the symbolic ring. In ancient Egypt, the Sun and the Moon Gods were feared and worshipped. A ring was a symbol of these spirits, both of whom were also related to the home and hearth. The endless circle showed the eternal nature of the bond, while the open center was meant to be a doorway to things unknown.

That explanation makes a little more sense. Incidentally, I tried what the video above shows. I can separate my ring fingers. Does this mean that I am doomed to get divorced? I'm also now worried that when I eat a donut it will launch me into the great unknown.
Maybe rings aren't the end of the world.