Papua New Guinea
(I suggest that if like me, you're a bit squeamish, then you may not want to watch this video clip below as it left me feeling pretty sick!)
Crocodile Scarification
The tribes of Papua New Guinea have crocodile markings on their bodies to mark their full man status. Without this initiation, they will die half a man which, let's be fair, know body wants that!
In order to create these markings, the boys Uncles must pin them down to the ground to stop them from struggling whilst their skin is slashed. Once decided, the scaring must take place.
The meaning behind this ceremony has deeply spiritual and symbolic connotations. The tribe’s people believe that the scars are crocodiles teeth that have swallowed the adolescents and morphed them into ‘crocodile men’ sending them into man hood.
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Africa
Nuba
Nuba is made up of a lot of different tribes all of which have similar scaring covering the whole body including the face. The meaning of their scars separate's man from animal.
Women:
10 years old - Torso is scared
13/15 years old - Breasts are scared
After giving birth - Both legs are scared
The more scars that are seen on the body of a woman symbolises the maturity of that woman. Their scars mark important milestones in their lives reflecting on traditional roles. They can also have strong links to sexual desire.
Men:
Having scarification created on their bodies is an important part of the Nuba initiation ceremony.
Shilluk
This is a pearl like body scarification. The unique style provides a strong sense of cultural identity. The pearling process uses fish hooks as this helps to create it in the best and easiest way. The Shilluk scars are used as an identification method used to prevent kidnap or to retrieve kidnapped children.
Dr Congo
The most common scar in the tribes in Congo are the cockerel skin scar. This scar has a lot of complex detail in the scaring. It allows both men and women to show what they have achieved in their lives and information to their life stories. The skin becomes a book and tells many stories.
These scars look similar to eyes and contain some of the most complex designs of the whole of Africa's scarification.
Because many of the tribes speak different languages and can't understand one another, they instead read each others skin to find vital information.
To create bulging of the scars, they would cut the skin rather than slitting it, then rub ash onto it to bulge and darken the skin.
I find it amazing how differently people live because of their habitat, or just because of they way that they've been brought up to think is right. For example, in England we will buy every new product that's advertised to remove visible scars and stretch marks, and foundation to cover up birth marks or skin pigmentation disorders, whereas if we were to be apart of one of these tribes, we would be almost forced into creating makings on our bodies which we try so hard to cover up!