Body Art and Ornamentation
Body art and ornamentation
For centuries, the human skin has hugely been used as a culture identification and expression. People across the universe honor their culture through skin and body art language to communicate about their beliefs and values. This has attracted interest and much attention among anthropologists since the early 1900’s (Eriksen, 2001). The reason behind skin inscription highlights a central issue to anthropology and other related disciplines. This is because the skin decoration and ornamentation has expressed the boundary marks between different societies. It has further represented individual and societal experiences among people across the globe. Under anthropological research, different worldwide cultures use different forms of body art and ornamentation. They include scarification, permanent and nonpermanent tattooing, piercing, branding and painting among others. This paper will explore body arts aspects of two cultures–the Asian Americans, (Hindu) in specific and the West African Yoruba people. The main objective will be to compare and contrast the significance of the body art and ornamentation of the two cultures.
The Hindu tradition and culture has not been left behind in the usage of body art and ornamentation. Anthropological research has identified tattooing as the widely used form of skin ornamentation among the Hindu. The body arts processes for the Hindu culture result into a non-permanent tattoos. In most cases, the ornamentation on Hindu culture is done to women (Eriksen, 2001). It is very rare to find body arts to young and old Hindu men. As non permanent marks, the process to making them is very simple. The materials consist of a mixture of different botanical oils and henna that is grounded to form a paste.
Upon usage, the mixture is diluted with a liquid solution and then applied to a Hindu woman, specifically on their hands. Such Hindu tattoos are famously known to as ‘Mehndi’. The term signifies the different kinds of beautiful Hindu tattoo designs to have been primarily used to identify a Hindu woman from other Asian women. More so, it identifies them to belong to the Hindu culture under the Hindu tradition. This is because, according to their tradition, the process of tattooing their women is a great symbol of honor. Hindu women are duly recognized as vital members their family units when they are marked with the traditional henna. The Hindu society further recognizes them as important figures of the Hindu cultural society (Kapferer et al., 2010). Nose-piercing accompanies the tattooing of Hindu woman to add their cultural and traditional value. However, nose-piercing is done in a variation depending on a region to another. For example, at the rural suburbs of India, the woman is pierced with a different septum caste unlike those women living in towns and Indian major cities. Piercing is also either to the left or right side of the nose depending one’s desire and family heritage.
As discussed above, the two cultures present different forms of body art and ornamentation. However, their major differences are the types and kinds of ornamentation and not the meaning. This is because both of them use body art for culture identification. Skin ornamentation communicates much about their tradition, value and beliefs.
Anthropologists among other people can identify a Yoruba upon seeing their permanent scar lines on their faces. The scar marks are like their Yoruba badges and signs of identification. Similarly, one could easily tell that a person is a Hindu when they see their henna decoration on their hands. This is regardless of the geographical area they live. This is because unlike the Yoruba tradition, the Hindu tattoos have been received when by the modern society. The modern society considers hands tattoos as fashionable (Kapferer et al., 2010). As a matter of fact, other ethnic communities have borrowed, and tattoos remain common among people, especially those living in urban areas. As a way of life of the two cultural communities, their body art also symbolizes their religious affiliation. Both communities also refer their respective body ornamentation when it comes to performing their respective cultural rituals. This includes the rights of passage, that is, when children graduate from childhood to adulthood.
Despite of the similarities mentioned in the above paragraph, there are differences to the meaning of the body art of the two communities. However, these differences are only applicable to what the respective ornamentation actually represents. For example, under religious affiliations, the Yoruba believe that their facial scar marks are a form protection. They believe that the scarification protects them from certain mischievous children. ‘Mischievous’, to the Yoruba culture is a description for the children that pass immediately after birth. Therefore, the scar marks are associated with the spirits that bring fortune and distances curse away from the Yoruba people. This is different to the Indians. Firstly, their body arts are not permanent hence they mean less in the spiritual world (Kapferer et al., 2010). However, the application of henna on their hands also serves them as medicine to their skin. They believe that the henna cures any skin diseases upon application. This has not been scientifically approved. It is, therefore, only a mere belief. Nose- piercing traditionally known as “nathori” is believed to emulate Lord Krishna, (Hindu god). Piercing young Hindu women will provide relief and an easier menstruation during their childbirth period. Consequently, they will experience less pain compared to those women that had not pierced their nose.
There is also a big difference among the two cultural communities when it comes to their body art significance on cultural factors. Cultural factors are things to do with kinship, gender roles, economic organization and division of labor among men and women from the two communities. Political organization and other social aspects also fall under this category. For example, the Yoruba’s scarification is the first sign to show that a person has been accepted as a member of the Yoruba society. Such a person is granted all rights as a Yoruba community member. More so, some different pattern of scarification identifies wealthy people. Such patterns are designed for royalty (Lewellen, 2002). At the rights of passage, the Yoruba people decorate their brides a certain pattern to honor them. The case is the same for children who are about to enter adulthood. To communicate to every member of the Yoruba society that a girl/boy is ready to marry, they pass certain rituals characterized which particular patterns of scarifications. This is completely different to the Hindu culture.
The henna tattoos painted to Hindu women are a symbol of love. It also serves as a preparation for marriage. Indians perform a certain ritual during the process to paint a woman with the “mehndi”- traditional henna. They believe that such a ceremony will bless the woman in their marriage life (Eriksen, 2001). Henna is also a sign of happiness. Again, Hindu elders apply henna to a girl who is traditionally at the age to get a husband. It is a way to communicate that such a girl is ready for a spouse. During the marriage ceremony, both the bride and the bridegroom are applied with a certain henna style. This is due to the belief that such applications are a blessing and offer wisdom to the couple. Marriages celebrated in the Hindu traditional way with the application of henna are destined to be successful.
Anthropological research has shown that the two traditions have greatly changed over time. The change has either been a modification due to colonization or even globalization. Some cultural practices involving the skin have diminished while the larger society has adopted others. For example, henna decoration is so far very recognized unlike the facial scarification (Lewellen, 2002). People make tattoos on their bodies even though they are not Hindus. This practice has been accepted in the fashion world. The modernization of medicine automatically fades out the notion that people still practice this for medical reasons. The same goes to nose-piercing. Hindus, who migrated from their homeland to other continents, for example Africa, spread nose-piercing to other societies. Today, it is common to see a modern woman with a piece of ornament on their nose.
On the other hand, facial scarification has not gained recognition in the modern society. It has met resistance probably due to colonial influence or missionary activities. The spread of Christianity, the teaching of the bible that it is wrong to make an image or alter one’s self significantly contributed to the extinction of the Yoruba facial scarification. Furthermore, since scarification was painful, less exotic forms of self expression replaced such practices. They include different clothing styles, as observed in the modern society, jewelry designs among others.
Conclusion
As discussed above, it is evident that ornamentation and body art provide anthropologists with a comprehensive insight to people’s traditions across the globe. Skin decoration gives a chance to people to convey their autobiographical stories to both anthropologists and other interested parties. This paper offered a comprehensive exploration of the various roles of body art among the Yoruba and Indian cultures. It has analyzed starting from cultural/tribal identifier, a mark of heritage, celebration of love to traditional pride. The skin ornamentation communicates a lot about beliefs, values and attributes of a certain group of people. Putting other factors constant, ornamentation is the perfect way of expression in the world of different cultures. However, the ever-changing society, influenced by religious affiliation, colonization and modernization wiped out such rich heritages (Eriksen, 2001). Thankfully, some of these cultures have stood strong and thrived despite the few alterations.
References
Eriksen, T. H. (2001). Small places, large issues: An introduction to social and cultural anthropology. London: Pluto Press.
Kapferer, B., & Meinert, L. (2010). In the event: Toward an anthropology of generic movements. New York: Berghahn.
Lewellen, T. C. (2002). The anthropology of globalization: Cultural anthropology enters the 21st century. Westport, Conn: Bergin & Garvey.
