There is no right moment for the origin of the piercing. This type of ornament was used by several ancient civilizations, with different meanings. Mayans and Aztecs, for example, adopted piercing for religious purposes. Egyptians and Indians pierced body parts to demarcate their hierarchical positions in society or their castes. The Romans used it for vanity, as an adornment. In the 19th century, the practice fell into disuse and even began to be discriminated against. And it was reborn only with the hippie movement, during the 1960s.
– (Danyael Lopes/)
1) 4000 BC
Eskimos and people from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska (USA) used lip piercings to represent important milestones in life, such as entering puberty, getting married and becoming a hunter.
2) 3000 BC
In ancient Egypt, ornaments pierced in the navel signaled royalty. Pharaohs wore it to indicate their position in power
3) 2000 BC
Earrings and piercings existed in the Xia and Shang dynasties in ancient China. It was customary for girls of 12 and 13 years of age to insert golden needles into their ears.
4) 900 BC
Aztecs and Mayans made cavities in tooth enamel for the placement of precious stones. These peoples also put jewels on their tongues as a sign of nobility.
5) 700 BC
The Romans believed that gold rings and other precious metals on the nipple would improve your virility.
– (Danyael Lopes/)
6) Between 100 and 400 AD
The second chapter of the Kama Sutra, the Indian book of love, mentioned the apadravaya, a piercing that passes vertically through the glans of the penis, stimulating male and female pleasure.
7) 16th and 17th centuries
Nose piercings were a trend created by the Mughal empire in Pakistan and India. Indians used to wear jeweled hoops on their brims and septums to arouse attraction.
8) 19th century
Ladies of European high society were adherents of the “adorned nipple”, believing that piercings would make their breasts grow more attractive. Some hung chains from one nipple to another.
9) 60’s
Piercings came back into fashion with the hippies. As the movement was anti-conservative, piercing was part of a set of recovered primitive habits, such as tattoos
10) 70’s and 80’s
The punk movement adopted body modifications as a way to satirize and oppose bourgeois society. Piercings, always very visible, became a symbol of rebellion
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TdF suggested – Julia Mayumi
SOURCES Books Body Piercing and Tattooing: The Hidden Dangers of Body Artby Sarah Sawyer Dermatologic Complications with Body Art: Tattoos, Piercings and Permanent Make-Upedited by Christa de Cuyper and Maria Luisa Cotapos, America in White, Black, and Gray: A History of the Stormy 1960s, by Klaus P. Fischer; Foundation Faculty of Dentistry, History of Fashion and InfoEscola websites