How is scarification done

Now some are going further. They are scarring themselves by cutting or branding their skin—a process known as scarification.

In the U. But by the early s, members of a neotribal, or "modern primitive," movement began using scarification. For some, this type of body modification sends the message that they don't want to fit into society in the ordinary sense. Over the last seven or eight years, Pitts said, scarification has become remarkably widespread in the U. Scarification is done either by cutting repeatedly with a scalpel, using a cauterizing tool, or by "strike branding," which is much like cattle branding.

After cleaning the area and stenciling on the design, the artist begins cutting or burning the skin until reaching the right depth and width. People around the globe have long used their bodies as canvases for the expression of cultural identity, community status, connection to ancestors or gods—and to mark rites of passage or to "wear" a permanent amulet.

The Maori and other western Pacific peoples have a long history of tattooing. The word "tattoo" is believed to have originated in Polynesia from tatau, which means "to mark. Some tattooing and scarification rituals are extremely painful. Joseph Campbell noted in his book Primitive Mythology: The Masks of God that throughout the world, the rituals of transformation from infancy to manhood are often excruciating ordeals. Many are deeply sacred rites.

In Papua New Guinea's Sepik region, scarification is an initiation rite for young men. There, it is believed that crocodiles created humans. The initiate's chest, back, and buttocks are sliced with a bamboo sliver to test their strength and self-discipline. The resulting scars represent teeth marks of the crocodile that "swallowed" the young man during the ceremony. In Australia, scarring was practiced widely among Aboriginal peoples but is now restricted almost entirely to parts of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.

At the age of 16 or 17, cuts are made on the chests, shoulders, and bellies of both men and women. Without these scars, "clean skin" tribe members were traditionally not permitted to trade, sing ceremonial songs, or participate in other tribal activities. In Ethiopia's Karo tribe, men scar their chests to represent killing enemies from other tribes. Women with scarred torsos and chests are considered particularly sensual and attractive. Scarification has been most used among dark-skinned equatorial peoples.

It is perhaps one of the most misunderstood body modification procedures done today, largely perceived in Western society as a tabooed and harmful cultural practice. Yet despite this paradox, scarification is widely practiced in some manner in almost every society and has held a strong cultural significance in many civilizations. The act of scarification itself is painful regardless of how it is done. One common method is to cut the skin with a sharp object in whatever pattern is desired.

As a cultural practice, scarification draws its roots from a tribal primitivism that has existed for centuries in many civilizations. Perhaps the most obvious examples of this are the scarification traditions of the tribes of Africa and the western Pacific. Many tribes believe so much in this apparent spiritual connection through the act of scarification that they incorporate it into their religious rituals. In many societies, certain types of scars bear specific religious significance.

For example, in the Jewish religion male foreskins are cut off eight days after birth to symbolize the covenant between that young man and God. In tribal societies scarification also plays a role in gender identity and sexual expression.

Yet in Western culture scarification is often deeply meaningful to those who practice it as a means of freedom and escape from societal and cultural pressures. The forms of scarification still found around the world today can vary greatly in appearance depending on the technique used. Cutting along the skin with a metal, glass or stone tool leaves 'flat' scars, whereas rounded wounds are made by raising portions of skin with a hook or thorn then slicing it across with a blade.

Different effects are created by either rubbing the wound with ink, 'packing' it with clay, ash or even gunpowder to create rasied keloids, or forcing it to remain open by keeping the skin either side pulled taut to form a permanent gouged scar. Although such extreme forms of bodily decoration might seem alien to outsiders, scarification as practised along traditional lines by experienced hands has a serious ritual purpose connected to social systems and cultural beliefs.

As an act of self-mutilation it cannot be regarded separately from tatooing, piercing or plastic surgery. The main point of African scarification is to beautify, although scars of a certain type, size and position on the body often indicate group identity or stages in a person's life.

Among the Dinka of Sudan facial scarification, usually around the temple area, is used for clan identification. In southern Sudan Nuba girls traditionally receive marks on their forehead, chest and abdomen at the onset of puberty. At first menstruation they receive a second set of cuts, this time under the breasts. These are augmented by a final, extensive phase of scarring after the weaining of the first child, resulting in designs stretching across the sternum, back, buttocks, neck and legs.

Clearly Nuba scarifiation is determined by social status and maturity, and is perceived as a mark of beauty, but it can also act as preventative medicine: scars above the eyes are said to improve one's eyesight, those on the temples are said to releive headaches, and a four-pointed star near the liver protects against hepatitis.

In the context of the cultural traditions of the Dinka and Nuba, the individual has liitle in the way of choice in the matter of scarification.

Undergoing the ordeal and having the 'right' marks is the only way to be fully recognised, desired or valued within a paritcular culture.