Burma/Myanmar-Padaung – Metal Rings On Female Stretched Necks-Symbol of Beauty & Culture-Removal Can Be Fatal

 

 

 

In the past Padaung girls were fitted with
the rings at the age of five or six. The day chosen for this ritual was
prescribed by the horoscopic findings of the village shamans. The neck was
carefully smeared with a salve and massage for several hours, after which a
priest would fit small cushions under the first ring-usually made of bronze –
to prevent soreness. The cushions were removed later on. The process would
continue with successive ring being added every two years. A Padaung women of
marriageable age will probably have had her neck extended by aboui 25
cms.

These severe decorations express the
Padaung women’s own concept of beauty and social ranking but there are other
theories concerning the origins ofthese rings. It has been claimed that rings
were first placed around the women’s necks in order to make them undesirable
to slave traders. A Padaung legend explains that the rings were protection
against tiger bites, a constant hazard in their homeland in the north of
China.

Unlike normal accessories, these rings are
for life and may only be removed with the direst of results. Adultery among
Padaung women has always been punished by the removal of the rings, a fate
almost literally, worse than death. This is an unusually cruel punishment as
the cervical vertebrae has become deformed after years of wearing the rings,
and the neck muscles have atrophied. Unless she wishes to risk suffocation the
unfortunate wife must pay for the infidelity by spending the rest of her life
lying down or try to find some other artificial support for her
neck.