Body piercings have seen a resurgence of interest in the last ten to twenty years and are getting more and more a share of the mainstream Western culture. Take a look at any fashion or amusement magazine and you’ll see a great deal of well-known celebrities with body piercings like navel rings or a labret. You might be astonished to find out that earsplitting is actually an ancient form of expression that most cultures have practiced at galore time or other for thousands of years. Egyptian body piercings reflected status and love of beauty The earliest known mummified remains of a humane that was pierced is over 5,000 years old. This worthy gentleman had his ears pierced with larger-gauge plugs in his ears, so plugs may be one of the oldest forms of body modification there is! We likewise know that the Egyptians loved to adorn themselves elaborately, and even restricted sure types of body piercings to the royal family. In fact, only pharaoh himself could have his navel pierced. Any one else who tried to get a belly button ring could be executed. (Tell that to Britney Spears!) Almost each well-to-do Egyptian wore earrings, though, to display their wealth and accent their beauty. Elaborate enameled and gold earrings often times portrayed items in nature such as lotus blossoms. Body piercings are also brought up in the Bible. In the Old Testament it’s apparent that body jewelry is considered a mark of beauty and wealth, peculiarly for Bedouin and nomadic tribes. In galore cases, body jewelry was given as a bridal gift or as part of a dowry. It is clear that piercing was a sign of status and attractiveness in Biblical times. Romans were practical piercers Romans were very practical people, and for them piercing closely always served a purpose. Roman centurions pierced their nipples not because they liked the way it looked, but to signify their strength and virility. It was a badge of honor that demonstrated the centurion’s commitment to the Roman Empire. As a symbol, it was essential and served a specific function, unifying and bonding the army. Even Julius Caesar pierced his nipples to show his strength and his identification with his men. Genital earsplitting through the head of the penis was performed on gladiators, who were almost always slaves, for two reasons. A ring through the head of the penis could be applied to tie the organ back to the testicles with a length of leather. In gladiatorial combat, this prevented severe injury. With a big sufficient ring or bar, it likewise prevented the slave from having sex without the owner’s consent. Since the gladiator was “property,” a stud fee could be charged to another slave owner for the highly prized prospect to raise the next generation of outstanding fighter. Making love or war, deafening makes it better Going all over the ocean at around the same time, the Aztecs, Maya and a good deal of American Indians practiced tongue deafening as share of their religious rituals. It was thought to fetch them closer to their gods and was a type of ritual blood-letting. The Aztec and Maya were warrior tribes, and also practiced septum piercing in order to appear fiercer to their enemies. Nothing looks rather as frightening as an contestant sporting a big boar tusk thrust through his nose!

This exercise was likewise mutual amongst tribes in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Some of the materials normally employed were bone, tusks and feathers. Hundreds of years later, French fur trappers in Washington State ran into American Indian tribes who wore bones through their septum and called them the Nez Perce, meaning “Pierced Noses” in French. It’s interesting that civilizations disunited by thousands of miles and even centuries ofttimes developed a love for the same kind of body piercings to heighten sure features, isn’t it?

In Central and South America, lip labrets were popular for strictly aesthetic reasons – women with pierced lips were considered more attractive. In fact, the holes were ofttimes stretched to unbelievable size as more and more larger wooden plates were inserted to emphasize the lips as much as possible. (Kind of like collagen today). The Aztecs and Maya also sported lip labrets of gold and jade, galore of them elaborately carved into mythical or religious figures or sporting gemstones. These were seen as highly beautiful and to heighten sexuality. As the world moved into the dark ages, interest in deafening passed away down more or less and the medieval church begun to condemn it as sinful. For a few hundred years, Western civilization abandoned the practice. As the Renaissance went into full swing, however, interest in earsplitting begun to pick up again. A new era and a new interest in body piercings Sailors became convinced that deafening one ear would improve their long-distance site, and so the web site of a sailor with a gold or brass ring became common. Word also disseminate that ought to a sailor be washed ashore after a shipwreck, the finder must keep the gold ring in interchange for supplying a proper Christian burial. Sailors were both religious and superstitious, so they in general expended a lot for a huge gold earring to hedge their bets. Men became much more fashion-conscious for the duration of the Renaissance and Elizabethan eras, and closely any male fellow member of the nobility would have at least one earring, if not more. Large pearl drops and enormous diamond studs were a great way to advertize your wealth and standing in the community. It could likewise designate royal favor if your earring was a gift from a fellow member of the royal family. Women, not wanting to be outshone by the men in all their finery, begun to wear plunging necklines, with the Queen of Bavaria introducing the most outrageous, which consisted of not much at all above the waist. In order to adorn themselves, women started out piercing their nipples to show off their jewelry. Soon they begun wearing chains and even strands of pearls draped amid the two.

Men and women both encountered that these nipple piercings were also delightful playthings in bed, adding sensitivity to the breasts and giving the men both visual and tactile stimulation. Men begun getting pierced rigorously for pleasure as well. While not wholly mainstream, earsplitting of the nipples and, occasionally, the genitals, continued to hold interest for members of the upper crust of society in Europe on and off for the next few hundred years. The next resurgence of interest was, surprisingly, for the duration of the Victorian age, which is ordinarily seen as very repressed. Prince Albert, future husband of Queen Victoria, is said to have gotten the penis earsplitting that is named after him in order wear the tight-fitting trousers so general at the time. The ring could then be attached to a hook on the inside of one pant leg, tucked safely away among the legs for a neat, trim look. Although we have no record of Victoria’s response to the piercing itself, there is plentiful proof she was wildly in love with her husband and almost never left his side after their marriage! Soon, Victorian men were getting Prince Albert’s, frenums and a assortment of other piercings strictly for the pleasurable sexual effects, and women were doing the same. By the 1890′s, it was almost expected that a woman would have her nipples pierced. In fact, galore doctors at the time suggested it bettered conditions for breastfeeding, even though not all agreed. It was an interesting double popular — a great deal of humans were doing it, but no one was talking in regards to it. Modern-day body piercings In the last hundred years or so, body piercings in the Western world have for the most part been fixed to the ears, a standard hold-over from the fact that both men and women wore earrings for the duration of Elizabethan times. The Puritan motion did away with men wearing earrings, however, and it didn’t genuinely regain popularity until recently. Nose rings found new interest when young persons (they were called hippies then) from the U.S. started out traveling in India extensive looking for enlightenment in the 1960′s. They noticed the nostril rings that most women had been wearing there since the sixteenth century. In India, this was a form of traditional, accepted adornment and was ofttimes linked to an earring by a chain. For rebellious teens from America, it was a outstanding form of rebellion. After bringing nose piercings back to the U.S., the interest in body piercings of all kinds speedily caught on for the duration of the 1980′s and 1990′s. Celebrities, sports stars and singers all begun sporting a assortment of piercings. Soon, high school students and even stay-at-home moms were flashing new body piercings. And the rest, as they say, is history! This article on the “History of Body Piercings” reprinted with permission.
Copyright 2004 Evaluseek Publishing.