The wearing of jewellery has been with us across the ages with both men
and women seeking to adorn their persons with these ornamental devices.
The word jewellery is anglicised from an old French word “joule"
(jewel), but the origin can be further traced back to the Latin word
“jocale" which means plaything.
Although we typically think of jewellery as being made from precious
metals and gemstones, over the centuries it has been made from a
variety of materials such as cloth, wood, shells, rocks and stone. In
fact man has been very ingenious and artistic in creating jewellery
from just about anything and in many different styles from the plain
and simple to the highly elaborate.
Items of jewellery have also been adopted as potent symbols and even
worn to ward off evil spirits or to help overcome enemies in battle.
Examples of jewellery being worn other than for adornment, are
necklaces such as the cross or crucifixes worn by Christians as potent
religious symbols. Other religious types of necklaces are pendants
known as amulets, which are figures or symbols of varying shapes and
sizes, which are hung on a chain round the neck.
Necklaces
called lockets, which are usually heart shaped are worn as a symbol of
love and open up to reveal a picture or lock of hair from a cherished
one.
Necklaces and pendants are both worn around the neck but a pendant
usually means a hanging object although it can be hanging from a neck
chain or an earring. A choker is also a form of necklace but is worn
high around the neck and can also have a pendant hanging from it.
Perhaps the most bizarre form of necklaces are those worn by the Pa
Dong Long Neck people who are part of the Karen tribal group that live
along the border between Thailand and Burma. From the age of 6 years
old, brass rings are snapped around the necks of young girls, a few
every year, up to a limit of 20 rings although there is a woman on
record as having 28 around her neck. As they progress from childhood to
womanhood, their necks appear to elongate although apparently what
really happens is that the weight of the rings crushes the women’s
collarbones giving the illusion of a very long neck.
It is said that these women only remove the brass rings on their
wedding night with a long drawn out process involved, which involves
much neck washing. As brass often tends to discolour the skin one can
imagine that there may be a rather nasty green mess under those rings.
After the wedding night, the rings are replaced and must remain in
place for life, as the women’s neck muscles are now no longer strong
enough to support the length of the neck and the weight of the head on
their own.
This wearing of neck rings was also a practice adopted by women in
South Africa and in particular those from the Ndebele tribe and these
women have often been referred to as giraffe women because of their
long necks. The Ndebele women traditionally wore copper and brass rings
around their necks arms and legs as a symbol of their status in society
and after marriage as a symbol of her bond and faithfulness to her
husband. Husbands would provide their wives with these rings and the
richer her spouse the more rings she would wear and they would only be
removed after his death as they were believed to have strong ritual
powers.
Thankfully, in both the Pa Dong and the Ndebele tribes, this
traditional practice is no longer popular and is now dying out in
favour of the more usual types of necklaces.
Written by John Lewis of Love2Have. Love2have specialises in quality
handcrafted designer necklaces made
here in the UK by small independent designers.
» left by gabor teveli from thailand (3 years 283 days ago.)
you're totally wrong about long necks. Pa-Dong use spirals not rings and they have no problem taking them off. thankfully their tradition is NOT dying out. you should do more research before you write again. Respond to this comment
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Article added to SearchWarp.com on 12/10/2005 7:13:48 AM. View other articles written bysundial(129)
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