Body Modification In Different Cultures – Since the earliest ages, women have had to undergo strange procedures to look beautiful according to societal standards.
Whether it’s getting a face tattoo or wearing huge studs, or honing your legs, we’ve compiled a list of five weird body modifications that women around the world follow to look more attractive and desirable.
Body Modification In Different Cultures
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Growing Up In A Body Modification Culture
Myanmar tribal women wear brass rings around their necks. According to him, the longer the neck, the more beautiful the woman! The tradition of wearing brass rings was started as a security measure to make women look less beautiful and prevent them from being kidnapped by other tribes. Now it is a sign of ‘beauty and culture’. Women start wearing 5 brass rings at an early age, with additional rings added annually. This practice is followed till they reach 25 years of age. This ring is worn for life, and will only be removed if the woman commits adultery.
This is a practice to sharpen and sharpen the teeth. The Mentawai tribe of Indonesia follows this tradition. According to them, chiseled teeth make a woman more beautiful and attractive! The tribe believes that ages ago, people were divided into spirits and humans. Humans are in danger if the spirits are not happy. Permanent body decorations like toothpicks keep the spirits happy and people avoid death as long as possible. Women start following this extremely painful procedure without anesthesia and proper equipment to look beautiful, right from their teenage years.
The century method of binding the foot was to bend the toe up and down under the ball of the foot and tie straps around the ankle. This created an arch across the sole to bring the toe and ball closer to the heel. The results obtained by this method were known as lotus feet or Cinderella feet. This was considered attractive and a symbol of wealth. However, due to this deformity, many women could not walk properly and had to be carried on a chair or bed.
Women of the Mursi tribe of Ethiopia wear lip discs on their lower lips to look more beautiful. The lower lip is cut and held open by a suture plug until it heals. Generally, this procedure is followed when girls are 15-16 years old. Unmarried women and newlyweds wear lip discs more often. Apart from beauty, the lip disc is also a symbol of her identity as a Mursi woman. Lip discs are worn for ceremonial purposes and can be removed. Women stop wearing lip discs only if their husbands die.
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There is a tradition of lengthening the earlobes followed by women of the Dayak tribe of Indonesia. It is a symbol of beauty and bravery along with nobility status. Ears are pierced when a girl is 4 years old. Hisang, earrings extending the length of the ears, are then worn by the girl. The earrings are made of silver or bronze depending on the social status of the family. The longer it is, the more significant the woman is to the tribe. Hisang is added annually to a girl’s earlobes. When a girl is getting married, the total number of Hisang can be 20!. From sacred male body modification practices that still exist today, from scarification to facial tattoos, here are the stories behind the centuries-old cultural phenomenon.
A Karamajong man with facial scars as a mark of beauty and identity in northern Uganda
Cultures around the world still honor ancient traditional practices of body modification, or the deliberate and often irreversible alteration of the skin. For many practitioners, body modifications are highly sacred rites that include pricked ears, tribal tattoos, scarification, binding, and branding. Each group has its own reasons for doing it: coming-of-age rituals, protection against evil, spiritual meaning, social status, beauty enhancement.
In many cultures painful physical changes are reserved for women. Take Myanmar, where Chin women wear tribal facial tattoos and Kaya women wear brass coils around their necks. But some cultures reserve the practice of certain body modifications for men.
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“Tribals and women have different markers in their life course (marriage and childbirth for women, versus being accepted as warriors and leaders among men), hence different physical changes for each. Visual symbols also create a sense of unity and shared history within a group,” says La Carmina, a widely published author who has studied body-mutilation practices around the world. “Boys participate in ritual body modifications that prove their ability to be brave in painful situations. One element of body modification rituals is to display masculinity. Young men demonstrate that they can endure great pain by earning the right to be leaders in the tribe.”
In the remote villages of Papua New Guinea along the banks of the Sepik and Karawari rivers, there are tribes who undergo the ancient tradition of crocodile scarification. “Crocodile exhibits characteristics often associated with masculinity: physical strength, a strong and smart hunter, and endurance,” says Mary Jane Murray of Trans New Guinea Tours. “Knowledge is power in this region. Knowledge is passed along during the initiation ceremony, including information about clan history, legends and beliefs. Possession of this knowledge allows initiates to become men.”
The skin-cutting ritual is part of the coming-of-age initiation rites for tribals. “During initiation, the boy’s maternal uncle is usually involved in cutting the skin. The blood of the initiate is considered to be his mother’s blood and shedding it makes him human,” says Murray.
Hundreds of cuts are made on the chest, back and buttocks to create keloids that mimic alligator scars. Those who suffer the pain of scarification are believed to have the powers of prehistoric reptiles. The ceremony takes place in spirit houses, called
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“Sometimes a sister will ask to be scarred when her brother is being initiated because she wants to share or relieve her brother’s pain,” says Murray. Other family members may receive a single cut on their upper arm to show respect for a family member who underwent scarification.
Traditionally, young men in some Amazonian indigenous groups have their lips pierced as a rite of passage into manhood. The labret they wear is a large wooden plate placed in the piercing. Among the subgroups of the Kayapo tribe in Mato Grosso and Para in northern Brazil, senior tribesmen with prestigious roles use lip plates, called
“When a kaypo boy reaches puberty, he gets a lip piercing, which is gradually stretched with larger and larger plugs,” says La Carmina. The hole is fully stretched by age 20 to hold 2cm thick plates of various widths. The purpose of the lip plate is to ward off enemies and identify warriors in the tribe.
The largest disc is worn by the Kaipo tribal leader, Chief Raoni Metuktyre. He is one of the five major Kayapo who still wear a mahogany lip disc. Today, the
cultural practice is losing momentum. “Young men prefer not to stretch the piercing to a large girth. However, the disc is a symbol of pride and a sign of masculinity,” says La Carmina.
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Forehead scarification is a common right of passage for men and women among various tribal groups in Sudan. The inscribed markings are intended to identify the caste of the wearer. The direction and number of lines distinguish the nomadic Dinka clans in South Sudan. The practice is on the wane, but tribal members who don’t get the cut are scolded for abandoning tribal traditions for modern practices.
Which means “one who has stopped giving milk.” This phrase does not refer to weaning; Instead, among the Dinka tribes, a boy’s responsibilities include milking and herding cattle. The process marks the time in a boy’s life when he is expected to take on the responsibilities of men: protecting the camp from attacks by hostile groups. Men can marry after completing parapool.
The scarification ceremony takes place at harvest time and is conducted by a local sorcerer, who cuts lines on their foreheads. The boys, usually between the ages of 10 and 16, cannot cry or show pain during the procedure, and recite the names of their ancestors when their skin is cut. If they move, there will be a kink in the scar of initiation, which marks them as cowards.
Maori in New Zealand wear facial tattoos, as the head is considered the most sacred part of the body. Women traditionally wear tattoos on their lips and chin, while Maori men wear tattoos with curved markings on their full faces. “Men are trending with full face tattoos
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Lines that emphasize the lines on their skin, as well as decorative infill patterns that tell a person’s story (such as their family background, achievements, or marital status). These abstract designs can look like zig-zags, swirls or scales, and each represents a quality such as courage or genius,” says La Carmina. In addition, men often wear religious bodies
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