Looking back in history, we will rarely find records discussing the use of piercings, as compared to huge discussions on jewelry which is common amongst everyone all around the world. The deterioration of the flesh once done really makes it difficult for others to determine and understand how the piercing jewelry has been used.
Ear piercing has been accomplished all over the world since early times, particularly in tribal cultures. Among the Tlingit of the Pacific Northwest of America, earrings were a sign of superiority and wealth, as the placement of each earring on a child had to be purchased at an expensive potlatch. In Europe, ear rings for women fell from fashion generally between the 4th and 16th centuries, as styles in clothing and hair tended to obscure the ears, but they gradually thereafter came back into vogue in other parts of world until after World War I when piercing became less popular and the newly invented Clip-on earring came in fashion.
From the European Middle Ages, a delusory belief that piercing one ear improved long-distance vision led to the practice among sailors and explorers. Sailors also pierced their ears in the belief that their earrings could pay for a Christian burial if their bodies washed up on shore. The Hafada piercing is a piercing on the side of the scrotum, where there is a crease. It was supposedly bought back to Europe by French Foreign Legionaries when they were stationed in what is now Lebanon and Syria. Nipple piercing has been connected to rites of passage for both British and American sailors who had traveled beyond a significant latitude and longitude.
Europe and America discovered Nose piercing a bit latter. It started from India with reference to the Vedas, Lakshmi’s nose piercings. But modern practice is believed to have spread all around as a fashion trend. Many Native American and Alaskan tribes started practicing of the septum and made septum body jewelry popular all around. Its probably the second most common piercing among peoples after ear piercing, it’s even more common than nostril piercing
Lip piercing and lip stretching were historically found in African and American tribal cultures. The practice of stretching the lips by piercing them and inserting plates or plugs were found throughout Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and South America as well as among some of the tribes all around. In some Pre-Columbian and North American cultures, labrets were seen as a status symbol.
