What is the History of other Lesser Known Piercings?

Posted on May 15, 2008 in Latest News

The most common type of piercings is of the ear, nose and tongue. But have you imagined the other popular kind of piercings in the prehistoric times. Among the other lesser-known kinds of piercings are Lip Labret Piercing and Septum Piercing.

History of Lip Labret piercing-
The practice of piercing in the lips by inserting objects is carried out throughout the world. Though in the ancient period only two tribes used to pierce their lips with a ring. They were the Nuba Of Ethiopia and the Dogon of the Mali region. The Dogon used to pierce their lips on account of religious connotation and importance. They believed the creator of the world was their predecessor “noomi”.

The other kind of lip piercings is in form of labrets. People make use of different materials to get their lips pierced. It could be a metallic pin, wood, ivory or crystals. The tribals of central Africa and southern America take this piercings to extremities by inserting discs of clay or wood into it.

Among the ancient Aztecs and Mayas of Central America, only the privileged male members of higher castes could sport them. They used to adorn themselves with stunning labrets made of pure gold. It used to be in the form of serpents, studded with precious stones. Even the Native Americans and tribes of north Canada and Alaska wore labrets made of bones, shell and ivory. They use to fashion them out from walrus or elephant. Some of them were also made up of wood and obsidian.
 
Some tribes of the Malawi wear plates called as “pelele” in the upper lip. It is considered as a mark of beauty and the women without it would be considered no women at all. And among the djinja woman the lips are plugged with wood as they are regarded as possession of husband. The person who will marry is only allowed to operate it.

History of Septum piercing-
The septum piercing is believed to be the second most common piercing among the ancient world. It stood second after ear lobe piercing and was even common than the regular nostril piercing. Large pieces of jewelry used to be inserted like tusks, feathers, bones, wood etc.

One can see this kind of piercing widespread among the warriors. One of the reasons could be to give a fierce appearance by these large tusks through the septum. One can trace back the history in Irian Jaya, Solomon Islands and in the New Guinea side. The asmat tribe of the Irian called it “otsj” which was as thick as 25 mm. They considered this large piece of bone as very prestigious. Sometimes they used to wear bone of the slain enemy in the war.

The Aztecs, Incas and the Mayans loved this kind of piercing. All kinds of jewelry were popular among them. But the most common kind was jewelry made up of gold and jade. It has religious association too. Today we can see the Cuna Indians of the panama region wearing thick gold rings.

In Asia it is popular in India, Tibet and Nepal. The ring is called as “bullak” and in some cases they are extremely large and elaborate ones. Some of the North American tribes were observed to have practiced and were known as Nez Perc. In French Nez Perc means pierced nose. The aboriginals of Australia passed a long stick or bone t pierce their septum. This they used to flatten their nose as they thought that flat nose was the most desirable one. 

Among the tribes of the New Guinea the piecing is done with sweet potato at the age of 18-22. While some perform this ritual at an early age of 9-10.

» Filed Under Latest News

Comments

Leave a Reply