Cultural Body Traditions From Around The World Copy

Papua New Guinea: Crocodile Scarification

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While South Sudan only focuses on the forehead, Papua New Guinea uses scarification to modify the whole body. The 'crocodile' scarification is inspired by the strength and hunting instincts of the animal that this clan members want to replicate. The act of skin cutting is seen as a coming-of-age ceremony for men.

China: Foot Binding

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Tiny feet were considered the most beautiful in Ancient China, which is what kickstarted (excuse the pun) this binding tradition. Women were made to be crippled by having their feet broken and then bound to achieve a desired shape. They would then be made to wear beautiful shoes to cover up the deformed feet! Thankfully, this was stopped in the 1920s!

Myanmar: Neck Stretching

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The funny thing about this one is that it's not actually stretching of the neck, which might make your toes curl thinking about it. What actually happens is that the neck is made longer by heavy metal coils being placed to weigh down the shoulders so that, over time, a larger gap is created between the shoulders and the head. There can be as many as 25 coils worn!

Iraq: Skull Binding

Image source: thearcheologist.com

A tradition in Iraq which is (thankfully) no longer practiced, was skull binding - and the purpose of this was to make the skull grow a particular way: vertically! Worse, the modification was started before a person would even know what's happening, as the skull was bound from infancy.

Worldwide: Corset Shaping

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Most modern women will (rightly) complain about having a bra digging in for a couple of hours, so imagine actually having your insides and ribs forcibly crushed together through corset shaping. While corsets are definitely still in fashion in this day and age, back in the day they were worn with the purpose of modifying the body to a 'desired' figure with a very, very, very tiny waist.

Russia: Nipple Removal

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This body modification in Russia was performed by the Skoptsy, a group within the Spiritual Christianity movement of Russia. The removal of both nipples from breasts was done for a religious purpose, in line with their teachings against sex and lust. They didn't just take it out on women, though - men had their nipples and testicles removed, too.

Buddhist Culture: Self-Mummification

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Some monks following the teachings of Buddha would actually go through a self-mummification process to alter their bodies. For 1000 days, they would be placed in a tomb and live on a very limited diet of things like nuts to get rid of the body's fat and moisture. Every day they would ring a bell, and if the bell stopped and their body had mummified, the monk would be viewed as a Buddha and placed in temples to be worshipped.

Thailand: Self-Mutilation

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Done for religious reasons in which worshippers would prove how devoted they are by mutilating their own bodies. This tradition sees both men and women officially taking part in festivals which would give opportunities for trials of pain and ways to mutilate the body voluntarily!

India: Nose Plugs

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This one actually comes as a defence mechanism from being too beautiful! Women in rural India were known for their particular beauty, so to protect themselves from being abducted, they would modify their faces with nose plugs and also tattoos. In particular, huge wooden nose plugs used to be the standard.

Mayan Cultures: Tooth Sharpening

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When you think of manual front-tooth filing, you might think of some DC Comics villain, but it's actually a practised modification from Mayan cultures, with a spiritual purpose. They would modify their teeth in order to make social classes stand out. Other cultures modify their teeth to look like animals, like sharks!

Africa/Native Cultures: Ear Stretching

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Many people in the US have had ear stretching done as a fashion statement, but for people in Kenyan tribes, as well as in the Amazon and in Thailand, ear stretching is actually a religious or coming-of-age celebration! Yep, you can tell how old someone is in these places depending on how big that hole in their ear is!

African Tribes: Lip Plates

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The lip plate modification is a very gradual process up to how far the person wants their lip stretched. Often the size of the lip plate can be a symbol of status!  This body modification is still popular with African tribes, and some Amazon rainforest cultures. We know what you're thinking - and no, it doesn't hurt once the lip is stretched.

Worldwide: Head Shaping

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Many cultures across the world practiced head shaping, as a way to deform the shape of the skull, which needed to be started before a child's skull would fully close (yep, did you know that an infant's skull is not fully closed up until a certain age?). Some of the results of this shaping would result in a long, conical shaped skull.

Western Cultures: Tongue Surgically Split

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This particular body modification has become highly popular in more modern, Western cultures, in order to give the tongue a more forked appearance - like a dragon or a snake. It's usually only split on the very end, or towards the middle, to give it that forked look. The reasons for people getting this done extend from aesthetic purposes to sex reasons!

Mayans: Dental Inlays

Image source: archeologynow.com

The Mayans liked to modify their teeth by first drilling a hole in them (yikes, and here we are hating a simple dental checkup) and then filling the holes with stones like obsidian or jade. This was more often done on the front teeth, so that the modification could be seen more clearly. This could be for both ritual purposes, or just to look good!

New Zealand: Facial Tattoos

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The Māori people of New Zealand modify their bodies with facial tattoos as part of their culture, as the head is thought to be the most sacred part of the body to the Māori. You can expect men to have full faces of tattoos, usually in curved markings or designs, while women might only have their lips or chins tattooed.

Cambodia: Sak Yant Tattoos

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The idea of getting a tattoo might not be a shocking skin modification these days, but in Cambodia and also Thailand, Sak Yant Tattoos are a specific kind where the prayers, images and spells of the Buddha are carved into people's bodies as a way to (hopefully) ward off evil spirits!

Southern Philippines: Teeth Blackening

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Some traditional practices are still carried out in the Southern Philippines, and teeth blackening is one of them! When a young member of the community reaches a certain age, they first have their teeth filed down, and then completely blackened. This is done by a certain powder from a tree, or using black smoke and bamboo.

Indonesia: Fingertip Removal

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The ritual of removing the fingertips in the Dani tribe of Indonesia is in response to a loved one's death. It's female members of the tribe that have to have their fingertips amputated, and it's also done with the belief that they will then be protected against spirits - specifically, the spirit of the person who has just died.

Southeast Asia: Genital Beading

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This body modification means small beads are inserted under the skin of the genitals - ouch! It's more common for men to have it done than females, and this body modification started as a way to - despite how painful it sounds - increase sexual pleasure! While pearl beads were the traditional way, other materials like gold and silicon have been used.

Eastern Africa: Where Circumcision Began

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These days, we all know circumcision to be a normal medical procedure that can be carried out on anyone who needs it - whether for personal reasons, or religious preferences. But circumcision began in eastern Africa as far back as 3,000 BC, and it's believed that it could have been done as a way of making a sacrifice of pleasure in order to have a better afterlife!

Africa: Lip Piercing

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Though this isn't by any means as shocking as some on this list, this type of piercing is considered extreme in this culture through the method of a mother piercing her own daughter's upper lip as a right of passage when the woman is turning into an adult. A plug is then often inserted into the hole, and the piercing is often used as a way of showing how much wealth the woman's father has.

Ancient Aztecs: Tongue Piercing

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The ancient Aztecs, as well as Maya Indians, practiced a form of body modification meant as a sacrifice: tongue piercing. To modern day people, this may sound like nothing but a popular face piercing, but in this culture, it was a ritual practice where a cord of thorns would actually be pulled through the tongue!

Asia: Castration

Image source: wikipedia.com

Castration sees the body modified by completely removing the testicles, and it's a tradition that's been popular in many Asian places, including China, as well as even with the Australian Aborigines. Some Muslims used castration on a man so that a eunuch could be used for guarding a women's living space or serving as an attendant.

North American Indians: Finger Amputation

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While people of Indonesia would only remove the fingertip in response to a loved one's death, the amputation of a whole finger was common practice as a form of sacrifice, or to show mourning, in North American Indian tribes, as well as other areas of the world. It was also possible that toe amputation could be done, too!

Africa: Girls Aesthetically Fattened

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In a world where there's so much pressure for a woman to be thin, you might be surprised to hear that women of Africa were purposefully fattened because that was the desired look! This body modification was achieved through girls being taken at puberty to be secluded for months on end, and given special diets which would make them fat.

Burma: Amulets Inserted Under The Skin

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The insertion of these amulets under the skin is about more than just an aesthetic upgrade, as the people of Myanmar (Burma) would insert amulets under their skin as a form of magical protection. Examples of amulets include those made out of lumps of gold which could then be put under the skin.

The Man Who Became A Cat

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As a bonus: here's Dennis Avner, a man from Nevada, USA, who modified his body so much to the extreme so that he could look like a cat - a tiger, specifically! He became known as the Stalking Cat, and he actually held a world record for the most procedures to look like an animal! Well, he certainly achieved it.

UK And Other Countries: Corset Piercing

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This became a very popular fad in the UK in particular, but corset piercing is also a body modification known to other countries. This one starts with having piercings done either side of the spine, and then waiting for them to heal before you can thread through ribbons. Not only do you thread the ribbons through, for aesthetic purposes, but you then pull them tight, too! Yeesh, sounds painful. There's also the risk of infection!

Worldwide: Body Suspension

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You might be wondering why anyone would want to have hooks piercing their skin for a start, but then to actually be suspended from them. But apparently this can be some sort of sacred ritual practice, done with good intentions despite what it might look like, because apparently the pulling is done gently...

And Now... The Most Shocking Body Modifications: Lizardman!

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Some people choose to get extreme body modifications even when it's not part of their culture - and 'lizardman' Eric Sprague is just one of many. He's had his teeth filed into fangs, tattoos of lizard skin and ridge implants over his eyes, all to look like his favorite reptile!

Saline Injections

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Apparently injecting your face with salt water is a growing trend for people who want to look - well - different. Apparently the saline injection is only a temporary affect, so it's not a permanent body modification - but it sure is a shocking one if you wanted it to wear for a party!

'Iguana Mike'

Image source: cbsnews.com

Lizardman wasn't the only man wanting to look like a reptile, apparently. Iguana Mike, as he's known (you can see why), has had a variety of modifications to look like an iguana, including transdermal implants of metal spikes, and, well... whatever you call that on his forehead.

Tattooing Your Eyeballs

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If this makes you squirm, look away now - using the eyes that you will never, ever get tattooed, because why would you? But some people do have the whites of their eyes tattooed, and it's popular to have done in black ink, but some people like to experiment with color.

Elf Ears

Image source: cnbc.com

When those plastic cosplay ears from Amazon just aren't enough, people have taken to actually get modification surgery to have their eyes lengthened and spiked at the end to resemble their favorite Lord of the Rings character. You'd have to be committed to fantasy to want this one!

Scarification And Branding

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Scarification is a very popular body tradition in some cultures, but outside of this, it can be a personal modification choice for people not doing it for any cultural reason. This is a lot more dangerous than tattooing, involving branding your skin with hot metal, because it's more at risk of infection.

Mathematics Branding

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Yes, this is actually a thing! A very specific and niche thing which apparently some people want. To take skin branding to the next level, some people choose to have math-related scarring put onto their skin, like equations, and is - once again - at risk of serious infection. Is it worth the risk? You do the math.

Magnetic Implants

Image source: reddit.com

Sort of like a budget version of Magneto, right? Apparently have magnetic implants at the tips of your fingers is a popular body modification. Its purpose is to sense electromagnetic fields, but the risks include infection, pain, actual death of the skin, or a full rejection from your body altogether!

Subdermal Implant

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This is a popular (and rather shocking) body modification where implants are actually placed under the skin in order to create a certain shape or outline on the skin's surface. This procedure uses molds shaped the way you want them which are then inserted under the skin.

Metal Horn Implants

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If you want to look a bit like a devil, or maybe you just want to replicate a Mohawk but don't have the patience to grow out your hair, why not try metal spike implants? Apparently with this type of spike implant there is a very high risk of infection! No surprise there.

Eye Piercing

Image source: everydayhealth.com

You may have thought it couldn't get any worse from tattooing your eyeball, but we're here to tell you it does get worse - people actually piece their eyeballs to wear certain types of eye jewelry. This is one that doctors have warned against because of the complications of putting a needle or scalpel anywhere near your sensitive eye!

Conch Removal

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If you didn't know what a conch was before, you will after this - as some people are getting theirs removed in a form of body modification. The conch is that bit of skin in the center of your ear that you can see from the outside - which some people get pierced.

Constellation Freckle Tattoos

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So a lot of people will have constellation tattoos, probably relating to their star sign - no biggie. But this modification is not only a face tattoo, but one that's supposed to visibly sparkle like stars. The skin is tattooed in the desired constellation shape, made to look like freckles.

Microdermal Piercings

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As this post has proved, you can get piercings absolutely anywhere on your body - if you're stubborn enough. Microdermal piercings are a trend where piercings go somewhere on the body, with the piercing not able to come through the other side (like it would on the ear, for example). People get them anywhere, like right next to the eye or on the hip.

A Tattoo Of A Woman... Which Is Then Given Breast Implants

Image source: cracked.com

Yep, you heard right. When a tattoo of the female body isn't enough, and you also don't want to get breast implants yourself, why not give your tattoo breast implants? This means implants under the skin of the tattoos of the breasts to make them protrude out.

Arm Ears

Image source: sciencealert.com

For those times when 'talk to the hand' just doesn't cut it anymore, you can now say 'talk to the arm' instead. Because there's a modification that lets you get an ear implanted into your arm. It was actually done by a performance artist called Stelios Arcadius - and it's terrifying.

The Black Alien Project

Image source: dailyrecord.com

Since he was a young boy, Anthony Loffredo wanted to look like an alien - and he didn't give up on his dreams. He's now had serious body modifications, including having his ears and nose surgically removed and his skin tattooed black, to look like something out of this world.

The Human Vampire

Image source: nbcnews.com

We've all dreamed of being a vampire at some point or another (late night Twilight fan-fiction readers, we're looking at you) but this woman actually got a ton of body modifications to make that a reality. She has nearly 50 modifications, including implants and piercings.

The Dragon Lady

Image source: news24.com

The Targaryens would certainly be proud of this one. This woman has had a serious amount of body modifications to look like a dragon. This includes implanted horns, her ears removed, her nose reshaped, tattooed eyeballs and a split tongue. Apparently she didn't want to die looking like a human.

Inspired By Marvel: The Red Skull

Image source: youtube.com

This man wasn't content to just hang a poster of Red Skull, Captain America's nemesis, in his bedroom. He wanted to look like Red Skull. This man from Venezuela has undergone a lot - including implants, nose and ear re-shaping, skin coloring and eyeball tattooing!