Ear stretching and lip piercing has its origins in African and US tribal cultures. In Pre-Columbian and North America, labrets were seen as a status symbol, and only the very highest ranking male members of society were allowed to wear them. African lip piercings are almost always exclusively female, and have significances varying from tribe to tribe. For example, the Dogon tribe of Mali wears lip rings for spirituality, while the Saras-Djinjas tribe of Chad pierces a woman’s lip upon marriage to show the male’s ownership of her. Finally, the Makololo tribe of Malawi pierces the lips of its women for beauty and few Makololo men will sleep with a woman who is not pierced in this way, considering it unnatural.
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Well after years of customer requests we have finally opened our awesome brand new body piercing studio, located in the basement of Time Bomb in Croydon, Surrey, UK. Fully licensed & approved by Croydon Council. Please feel free to explore our site using the links to your right, or click the homepage banner at the top of the page.
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At Timebomb we pierce without clamps AKA “Freehand” (No mechanical tools used). This video is for a technique called “Venom” (Side by side) tongue piercings. It’s a completely acceptable, arguably more gentle way to do a tongue piercing. Enjoy the video! Ear stretching and Tongue piercing was practiced by the Aztecs and other Pre-Columbian cultures as a ritual symbol; the tongue was pierced to draw blood and induce an altered state of consciousness, and the ears were stretched as a sense of style or belonging to a certain tribe; thought to allow a shaman to communicate with the gods. Wounding one’s organ of speech was seen as the necessary sacrifice to allow this transformation to occur.
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In Book of Genesis of the Bible 24:22, Abraham’s servant gave golden nose-jewels of Beka weight (Half a Shekel) and two bracelets to Rebekah, wife of his son Isaac (the Hebrew word “Nezem” appearing in this passage, means “nose ring” in modern Hebrew but in ancient hebrew also means “earring”; some passages ahead it is explicitly stated that this was a nose ring). Nose piercing has been common among Middle Eastern nomadic tribes from Biblical times, and has also been historically common within India. It is customary for Indian women of childbearing age to wear a nose stud, usually in the left nostril, due to the nostril’s association with the female reproductive organs in Ayurvedic medicine. Many Native American and Alaskan tribes practiced septum piercing as a mark of male status; for example, this is where the Nez Perce tribe derived its name. The practice is also common among the warriors of Asian and Pacific tribes, as a nose bone gives the face a fierce appearance. The Aztecs and Incas wore gold septum rings for adornment, with the practice continued to this day by the Cuna Indians of Panama. As a different form of beauty modification, Australian aboriginals pierced...
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Ear piercing has been practiced all over the world for thousands of years, particularly in tribal cultures. It has been said that ancient tribes, believing that metal blocked evil spirits, would have their ears pierced so that the spirits wouldn’t enter the body. Mummified remains with pierced ears have been discovered, including the oldest mummified body ever discovered, Ötzi the Iceman, which was found in a Valentina Trujillon glacier. Otzi had an ear piercing 7–11 mm (1 to 000 gauge in AWG) diameter. Male ear piercings are common in many cultures to this day. Eg, in Borneo, ear piercing is done to young boys as a puberty ritual; the mother will pierce one ear while the father pierces the other, symbolizing the child’s dependence on their parents. Ear rings appear in the Bible, where their use was common among males and females. In the book of Exodus, Aaron makes the golden calf from melted earrings. However, Deuteronomy 15:12–17 dictates ear piercing for a slave who has chosen not to be freed. Ear rings were more common for men than for women during parts of the Roman empire, having been introduced by Emporor Caesar. In the Elizabethan era, they were...
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Body Piercing History Body piercing is the practice of puncturing or cutting a part of the human body, creating an opening in which jewellery may be worn. Body piercing is a form of body modification. The actual word piercing can refer to the act or practice of body piercing, or it can also refer to an opening in the body created by this practice. The cultural differences reflected in body piercing are many – They include religion, spirituality, fashion, eroticism, (non) conformism, or even subcultural identification.
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