Foot Binding
To me, foot binding is NOT beautiful, and I was interested to find out more about it and why on earth it is done. To me, it just looks like a pointless uncomfortable pain which would just make life an awkward struggle!
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Foot binding (also known as "Lotus feet") is the custom of applying painfully tight binding to the feet of young girls to prevent further growth. The practice possibly originated among upper-class court dancers in Imperial China, but spread in the Song Dynasty and eventually became common among all but the lowest of classes. Foot binding became popular as a means of displaying status (women from wealthy families who did not need them to work could afford to have their feet bound) and was correspondingly adopted as a symbol of beauty in Chinese culture.
The foot binding process begins with a young girls (4-7 years old) soaking her feet in warm water or animal blood with herbs. After soaking the feet, her toe nails were to be clipped short and given a foot massage. Next, every toe would be broken except for the big toe. Then the foot was wrapped with binding cloth. Every day, or every couple of days, the foot would be unwrapped and wrapped again. The girls were put into smaller shoes until their foot was about 4 inches long.
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Neck rings
African:
The African neck stretching is known as “Long Neck Tribe” that originated from Ndebele tribe group from South African. These women wore brass and copper ring “iindzila” around their necks after they got married around the age of 12 years of age. Once the young women were married these neck ring are placed individually to provide intense spiritual power and to show the tribal wealth. This also became one of the ways that bonding between marriage couples was displayed and only can be removed upon her husband death. The neck ring are placed individually to keep from pressing against the rib cage and do not produced the elongated necks.
Asian:
The Asian neck stretching is worn by Padaung (Kayan Lahwi) women of the Kayan people who live in the border mountains between Burma and Thailand. Because of their tradition these women are also call the long-neck tribe “Yan Pa Doung” meaning “Karen brass wound people”. The female get there first initial neck ring between the age of 2 to 5 five years old and began with coils weighting about 4 ½ pounds. Then coils ring gradually increased in weight and length to help extend neck distance. These women can wear up to 25 coils, which many are never taken off. The coils will ultimately cause bruising and abrasions over a period of time, but this is look upon as part of beauty. In addition to displaying beauty, preserving their culture, this is only way they generate income. This practice of adorning women with brass rights around the neck has been a tradition for over a thousand years in their culture
I think that the neck rings are a beautiful piece to have to wear, although it may also be uncomfortable like the foot binding, I think I would much prefer to wear the neck rings!