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So just what is it with suspension, anyway?
Someone watching the
set-up
process would think
that it was a painful ordeal. Hooks are inserted
through and under the skin. Rather large hooks -
as little as one or as many as the suspendee
desires. Then the body's full weight is suspended
above the ground by these hooks. For most
observers, this would be considered agonizingly
painful.
Even though people may have the misconception due to recent mainstream popularity, piercing the flesh then pulling on or hanging by pierced body parts is not a new custom. For thousands of years it has been a part of Hindu Culture in Asian countries, nearly as long among the Sufi of the Middle East. It has been a part of Native American religious ceremonies for hundreds of years.
But, until recently, just as with any other form of body modification, it has been forbidden in Western Cultures that were dominated by Judeo-Christian values. Any type of modification to the body that God gave people was seen as a terrible sin.
So why do people choose to deliberately "mutilate" their flesh? Why would someone want to cause themselves pain by piercing, pricking and s t r e t c h i n g their skin?
In our Western culture, such practices are still "out on the edge" or "taboo." While gradually being accepted as mainsteam due to the recent explosion on college level body modifications, the practice has not yet been accepted across generations. People with tattoos are still regarded as unsavory characters. (some dirty sailor with an anchor on his arm, perhaps?) People with piercings aside from their ears are considered risqué. ("The only people that would pierce themselves down....there....are those sadomasochists in some sort of weird sex/chastity play") And what will we do with someone actually going so far as to.... suspend (gasp!).... themselves.
More than likely, this conflict stems from cultural differences around that little catch phrase body image. In one corner, we have those screaming that "the body is mine, I can do anything I want with it!" - including cause it some sort of supposed pain by modifying it. And again, you have those on the other end touting that the body is a temple God gave to us in His image (Genesis), what right do we have to alter it? Others say the body is merely a vessel we are loaned while on this earth. The body belongs to Allah, the Great Spirit, Mother Earth, the Church, State or Tribe, and others one can't even begin to list. Or does the body belong to us? I mean, we live it in.
"Hey, we modify our houses, our cars, even our desktop
themes to alter them into a form we like. We're stuck
with this body, so why not decorate a little to tell
the world we're happy with it?" - Female, 21
"Body modification is an accentuation of the human
form. Not something to cover anything up. It is
adorning your temple. Expression on skin of inner
emotions." - Male, 25
"The human body is perfect, modification is an
enhancement." - Female, 28
"I think it depends on the individual. There is
undoubtedly evidence that would lean towards saying
that many do it as a way of acting out against that
which they are around. It certainly was in my case.
But that I believe was both healthy and harmless.
Then of course, there is thee attraction to the
look of it, and then the elements of ritual." - Male, 22
In many cultures the act of modifying one's body marks a rite of passage. The dominant function of tattooing in all tribal societies was to denote the bearer's status or social identity. Commonly, the painful tattoo process was part of a right of passage into adult status. By stoically undergoing the, at times, painful tattoo ritual, recipients could demonstrate their bravery to other members of the group. The Padaung women of Burma stretch their necks 25cm or more with bronze rings to signify both beauty and the passage from girl into womanhood. In Malekula in the New Hebrides it was once the practice to deform a boy's head by wrapping plaited leaves around it during infancy. Later, when he was about seven or eight years old his ears were pierced with rings of turtle shell. Chinook Indians from the Northwest Coast of America also practiced flattening the heads of children to make them more beautiful. The Masai in Africa display scars and hairstyles to denote their age groups. Bopoto women of central Africa have raised scars made at different times during their lives to signify the stages of their development.
We all have our little events to show the passage of time. In the early 1900's, boys in "civilized" cultures wore short pants, and the graduation to long ones was a ritual symbol of their achievement of adulthood. Within the confines of Catholicism, confirmation is still practiced, but the question remains of just how meaningful it is in the main society. Judaism still practices circumcision. But in today's' culture, there is not much else that provides the essential step from adolescence into adulthood aside from puberty.
Piercing is probably the most widely known ritualistic "modification."
Thaipusam is a day of consecration to the Hindu deity, Lord Murugan (sometimes called Lord Subramaniam). A feature of the festival is the carrying of a kavadi, a frame decorated with colored papers, tinsels, fresh flowers, and fruits as a form of penance. Devotees and penitents carry the kavadi, which are highly ornamental wooden or steel paraphernalia supported by a harness and skewers entering the skin. Some have entered a trance, and pierced their cheeks, tongues, or foreheads. In Kuala Lumpur, Hindus carrying the kavadi make the annual pilgrimage to the Batu Caves in Selangor, where the kavadi is carried up the 272 steps to the entrance of the great cave and deposited at the feet of the deity. The next day they will return to their ordinary lives, cleansed. Apart from the mortification of flesh, other forms of devotion are practiced, such as honey or milk offerings.
Native Americans also have a well recognized ritual involving piercing. This is probably regarded as the most outlandish of all temporary body modification rituals. For many tribes of Plains Indians whose bison-hunting culture flourished during the 18th and 19th centuries, the sun dance was the major communal religious ceremony. The sun dance, a ritual of sacrifice performed by virtually all of the High Plains peoples, has been described among the Arapaho, Arikara, Assiniboin, Bannock, Blackfeet, Blood, Cheyenne, Plains Cree, Crow, Gros Ventre, Hidatsa, Kiowa, Mandans, Ojibway, Omaha, Ponca, Sarsi, Shoshone, Sioux (Dakota), and Ute (Spier, 1980). Generally held in late spring or early summer, the rite celebrates renewal the spiritual rebirth of participants and their relatives as well as the regeneration of the living earth with all its components. The sun dance reflects relationships with nature that are characteristic of the plains ethos, and includes symbolic representations of various animal species, particularly the eagle and the buffalo, that once played vital roles in the lives of the people and are still endowed with sacredness and special powers. The ritual, involving sacrifice and supplication to insure harmony between all living beings, continues to be practiced by many contemporary native Americans.
In former times, voluntary torture was part of the climax of the sun dance in certain tribes such as the Sioux and Cheyenne. In those cases, the dancers were pierced through the breast or shoulder muscles by skewers that were tied to the center pole, and they danced by pulling back until their flesh tore away. Sometimes the thongs inserted in the sufferer's bodies were attached to a varying number of buffalo skulls rather than to the center pole, the weight of the skulls during the dance sufficed to stretch and tear the skin. Death, represented by undergoing torture, signifies that the profane man has been killed and the participant has come to life regenerated in body and soul. The person must "die" through the ordeal of "being cut to pieces" in order to bring about his symbolic resurrection (1975, pp. 206, 207, 208). As Eastman analyzes the meaning of the cutting and bleeding of the Sioux dancer who is pierced, the pain that results is "the natural accompaniment of his figurative death" (1970, p. 61). The flesh that is torn away when the thong breaks loose "represents ignorance," which "should always be behind us as we face the light of truth which is before us" (Brown, 1967, p. 86). Thus the sun dancer is reborn, mentally and spiritually as well as physically, along with the renewal of the buffalo and the entire universe.
While the so-called sun dance ceremonies of the other plains tribes focused on fertility and the sun, the emphasis in the O-Kee-Pa was on placating the spirits of the waters, which the Mandans believed had once flooded the earth. In common with most other tribes, however, the Mandans also conducted dances to the buffalo. The elaborate O-Kee-Pa rites ended in an agonizing climax, when young men offered their flesh to the spirits in an ordeal of torture and amputation. Mircea Eliade explains the Mandan O-Kee-pa as a rite of "initiatory torture" inflicted for the purpose of "spiritual transmutation of the victim." After many days of complex ritual, young men who were about to become adults and enter adult life were pierced twice in the chest and twice in the back. Under the guidance of an older man who had "taken the journey before" (a Ka-See-Ka), they were then suspended by either set of piercings from the roof of a lodge. In trance, the young men hung from the piercings for about twenty minutes and sought communication with "The Great White Spirit" (This is also the subject of the recent movie, Man Called Horse with Richard Harris).
Sun dance participants strive to obtain supernatural aid and personal power through their sacrifice which will not only assure the accomplishment of desired outcomes but which will bring them a richer and more meaningful life as a member of their society. The sacred ritual reaffirms tribal membership and cultural identity and ensures that the people will prosper for another year. Following the sun dance, there is a renewed feeling of social harmony. And because of a worldview that includes nature and all living beings within the realm of kinship, that sense of harmony extends beyond human relationships to include the entire creation.
This transcendence of pain is culturally based. The Indians of North America used pain to transcend this mortal plain. Symbolic journeys, spiritual rites of passage, and religious ceremonies surround the notion of suspension. Is that what modern day "primitives" use the same act for? Suspension has taken on many forms in recent years. One can be held from the ground by hooks in their chest , shoulders, knees, even all along their body. Each time they strive for the spiritual experience. Some are awakened by contact with their higher self. Some travel. Some do it for exhibitionary purposes.
The end result is always the same, that after the suspension,
after the supposed pain, after the
risks,
there is always
something gained.
For more infomation and references
All hook and text graphics by Lessa's Design
But I did the plain hooks! *L*