The Hot New Engagement Gift Is an Engagement Sword, Says TikTok
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."
A TikTok user got their fiancé a sword as an engagement present.
Many believe the “engagement sword” is an ancient Norse tradition, though evidence is scarce.
Either way, swords are cool.
You know, here at Best Products, we've written a lot about the best gifts for best gifts for weddings and engagements. We've highlighted gifts that could be described as functional and sentimental. But you know what none of our go-to engagement gifts can be described as? Lethal.
But if this viral TikTok launches a trend, we might have to reconsider. A TikTok posted by user @betaraybecca, which got picked up by Den Garden, starts with the onscreen text "I got him an engagement sword," and there's no false advertising there.
In the 20-second clip, we see the gifted sword being mounted on a gorgeous wooden display, clearly suggesting this sword will be more for decoration than self-defense. And judging by the way one of the video's subjects cuts themselves on the decorative blade, that's probably for the best.
In the comments, original poster @betaraybecca (who seemingly took their username from the horse-headed warrior from Walt Simonson's run of Thor comics, which makes this all make a lot more sense) says they got both the sword and the display from Etsy sellers (RagnaroksEnd and OlegWoodArt, respectively). But while the items in question are clearly custom-made and new, is the cultural custom they're allegedly rooted in that much older?
Den Garden asserts that the exchange of an engagement sword is "...a tradition common in the Viking era. The bride would give her fiancé a sword as a symbol of protection and strength on their journey together." The source they cite is Life in Norway, which asserts that "Many Norse sagas tell of a sword ceremony. A would-be groom would break into a grave to retrieve a family sword," and furthermore that, "The groom would present an ancestral sword to his bride, with the intention for it to be passed on to future sons. The bride would also gift the groom an ancestral sword to symbolise the transfer of a father's protection of a bride to the husband."
Casual fans of the "viking aesthetic" probably think that sounds like an awesome ritual. But those who've dabbled in Ancient Norse scholarship may think that seems like a big pile of kumøkk. The aforementioned article doesn't cite any of the "many Norse sagas" that allegedly depict this kind of exchange, but since it's been a while since we've brushed up on our Eddas, both Poetic and Prose, we'll take their word for it on that count.
Novelist and history buff Peter Morwood, on his personal Tumblr, points to a more likely reason the sword exchange story is unlikely: the sheer cost of constantly producing new swords:
"That cost, for raw material and swordsmiths’ skill, kept swords rare. It was a long way from choosing something symbolic but inexpensive from a website, using Paypal or a credit card, then waiting for the UPS van. No matter how well-researched it is or how realistic the participants feel it to be, a recreated handfasting in the modern USA lacks the restrictions of an actual Viking-age marriage at some small fjord-shore settlement in 9th century Norway."
But does it really matter? To quote from a more recent piece of folklore, John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, "This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." Well, this is TikTok, folks. TikTok is not a place for fact-checking or historical accuracy. It's a place where somebody shows off a cool gift idea, makes up some fake lore to go with it, and usually ends it by throwing in a plug for a barely-related thing they “stan” accompanied by an emoji.
Anyway, lol, engagement swords are cool. Stream The Northman 😆 .
You Might Also Like
