Lip piercing
Lip piercing has been catching the interest among people of all ages in the past two decades. The history of this westernized culture dates back to thousands of years. There are evidences that the body and lip piercing has been popular even during the age of Egyptians. The mummified bodies of the Egyptians which were recovered in pristine condition revealed that piercing prevailed during those days. Piercing, for some people was a religious thing while for some others was a symbol of status. Now, it is more about fashion and way of expression of one’s attitude. Having a labret or a lip peircing is a common thing seen among many celebrities these days.
Lip piercing history
The oldest form of piercing was piercing in the ears with large gauged plugs and was a common seen among the wealthy people of those days. The Mayan tribes as well as the Aztecs used to wear Labrets, which were a specially designed pin made of expensive metal like gold. They were designed in the shape of mythical figures of those days and were adorned with precious stones. Tribes in Africa used to get lip peircing and wore a disk rather than a simple piece of jewellery. Among the Egyptians, certain forms of piercing was a culture that prevailed only in the royal families and it was said that only a pharaoh had the right to get a navel piercing and anyone else found with such a piercing was killed instantly. Lip piercing was widely prevailed among the Egyptians as they were generally used to adorning themselves extensively. In the bible body piercing has been mentioned as a mark of being wealthy and a symbol of beauty. Perhaps it’s clear that it includes Lip piercing in the list.
Though most of the tribes and cultures did not have much of communication with each other, they shared the common art of body and lip piercing somehow. The Romans used piercing not for the beauty but to show their strength and the virility to their opponents. Later piercing slowly found its way to the Americas, and they considered lip peircing more for aesthetic beauty than the cultural aspect. They often used to try and stretch the hole as to use progressively larger disc each time. It was considered to act like collagen and provide much of emphasis on the lips. Then the world almost forgot the culture of piercing until the sailors started the use of them much later. There was a notion that piercing would improve the long sight of the sailors, and it spread like wild fire and everyone used to have one then. Furthermore, most of the sailors were good believers in religion, and hence they believed that a proper burial is very important for any Christian. So when on board they used to have piercing with jewellery of precious metals so that if their ship is wrecked and if the body is washed to the shore, this jewellery will serve as an exchange for the service of proper Christian burial by who so ever finds the body.