Nai Thailand Essay
Body modification is the deliberate alerting of the human anatomy or the human physical appearance. What drives people to radically reshape their bodies or go under the knife to seek physical perfection? Or to stretch human bones like the Kayan women in Nai Soi Thailand. Tattoos, piercings, implants, hair color: As a species were either trying to stand out or fit in. The changes we make to our bodies do not just define us; they define the very culture we live in. On the remote border of the Thailand in Nai Soi sit a tribe. These tribes hold Kayan women, or to outsiders, the long necks. The Kayan women were heavy brass rings around their neck. The brass rings are famous for disfiguring the bodies of those who carry them. The cause pain and
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One key to the tribe’s identity is ritual scarification. In this bloody process, the scars left by cuts form intricate designs. The Bessoribe scar the face to mark the start of childhood and the abdomen to mark the start of adulthood. By tradition, the ceremony must take place on flat ground beneath a tree with the child resting on a bed of fresh leaves. To prevent infections the Bessoribe tribe covers the fresh wounds in sav of the Shay tree.
They initiate young men into adulthood every four years. If a child misses the ceremony, they must wait another four years to be called an adult. This is bad because when a scared adult sees an unscarred body they ae not accepted into their society. They are ostracized by the others. This is true, even if one friend gets scarred and one does not.
The village black smith preforms the scarification ritual. Using scrap medal and an ancient bellow the black smith makes a knife to use on a child. A different knife is used for each child. On initiation day for teenagers, young men or women fortify themselves with millet porridge and a sip of homemade alcohol. The teenager get to choose the design for the scars. Family gathers around and watches the ritual take place. The process of scaring the abdomen takes over an hour. When the abdomen scarring is finished, the scarified peers arrive and hail the courage of the new scarred man/woman. The honor their ancestors by singing and
One key to the tribe’s identity is ritual scarification. In this bloody process, the scars left by cuts form intricate designs. The Bessoribe scar the face to mark the start of childhood and the abdomen to mark the start of adulthood. By tradition, the ceremony must take place on flat ground beneath a tree with the child resting on a bed of fresh leaves. To prevent infections the Bessoribe tribe covers the fresh wounds in sav of the Shay tree.
They initiate young men into adulthood every four years. If a child misses the ceremony, they must wait another four years to be called an adult. This is bad because when a scared adult sees an unscarred body they ae not accepted into their society. They are ostracized by the others. This is true, even if one friend gets scarred and one does not.
The village black smith preforms the scarification ritual. Using scrap medal and an ancient bellow the black smith makes a knife to use on a child. A different knife is used for each child. On initiation day for teenagers, young men or women fortify themselves with millet porridge and a sip of homemade alcohol. The teenager get to choose the design for the scars. Family gathers around and watches the ritual take place. The process of scaring the abdomen takes over an hour. When the abdomen scarring is finished, the scarified peers arrive and hail the courage of the new scarred man/woman. The honor their ancestors by singing and