Body piercings have seen a resurgence of interest in the last ten to twenty years and are becoming more and more a part of the mainstream Western culture. Take a look at any fashion or entertainment magazine and you’ll find plenty of well-known show biz stars with body piercings like navel rings or a monroe. Body jewelry is actually a very old form of how people express themselves, dating back thousands of years.
Tongue piercing is another ancient form of piercing which has been done since ages. It was very famous amongst the ancient Aztecs, the Haida, Kwakiutul, Mayas of Central America and and Tlinglit tribes of the American Northwest. A very current custom and ritual, tongue piercing unlike now was considered to be a very holy doing of something earlier. Tongue piercing was done in order to draw blood to give pleasure the god or godess. Also, tongue piercing is done to establish an altered state of mental life so that the priest known as shaman those days could conversate with the higher spirits.
Going across the ocean at around the same time, the Aztecs, Maya and some American Indians practiced tongue piercing as part of their holy system of rites. It was thought to bring them closer to their gods and was a kind of ritual blood-letting. The Aztec and Maya were warrior tribes, and also practiced septum piercing in order to appear dangerous to their enemies. Nothing looks quite as frightening as an opponent sporting a huge wild male pig tusk push suddenly through his nose!This practice was also common among tribes in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Some of the materials commonly used were bone, tusks and feathers.
However, the logic of tongue piercing in the available days is to highlight of the body jewelry as a style statement and also to increase pleasure during oral sex.With change in times there is change in knowing and reason of the piercing. Tongue rings are pieces of body jewelry that are worn in tongue piercings. Yet they are often alluded to as a ring, they do not resemble a typical earring but instead look like a tiny barbell.
Each barbell has two balls, or bars, connected by a straight or little curved shaft. The ball/bar that connects to the shaft on the innerside of the tongue is mostly some plain, and just large enough to prevent its passage through the piercing. The ball/bar that rests on top of the tongue is larger, and it is generally the exhibit piece that provides each style of tongue ring its unique character and design.
The barbell used for an initial piercing has a longer than normal shaft to better accommodate the amount of swelling that goes along with a fresh tongue piercing. Once the tongue has healed, you’ll want to select a normal size ring for everyday wear.
