Women of the Kayan Lahwi tribe are well known for wearing neck rings, brass coils that are placed around the neck, appearing to lengthen it. Girls first start to wear rings when they are around 5 years old.
Q. Why do African tribes wear neck rings?
In a few African and Asian cultures neck rings are worn usually to create the appearance that the neck has been stretched. The custom of wearing neck rings is related to an ideal of beauty: an elongated neck. Neck rings push the clavicle and ribs down.
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Q. How do African neck rings work?
A wider coil is worn near the shoulders with a small coil wrapped around it at 90 degrees, then the remaining neck rings climb up to right below the earlobes. The neck never stretches. The weight of the rings pushes downwards, collapsing the collar bones; as a result, the upper ribs also bear this downward pressure.
Q. What is the rationale behind why the Karen tribe of Thailand follows a bizzare tradition of wearing rings on their neck to get a large neck?
It is said the neck rings prevented bites from tigers and the women themselves say it is to distinguish their cultural identity. Anthropologists have hypothesized the rings are worn to prevent slavery by making the women less attractive to other tribes.
Q. Do Africans wear neck rings?
Neck Rings In African Tribes For several millennia in both Africa and Asia, neck rings are an ancient culture that has been widely accepted. In the Ndebele tribe of South Africa, the ladies not only wear these rings on their neck, but also around their legs and arms. The rings are usually made of copper and brass.
Q. What culture uses neck rings?
Pan Pat, Myanmar – Women of the Kayan tribe in Myanmar are well known for wearing brass coils around their necks their entire lives in order to lengthen it. The belief is the longer the neck, the more beautiful the woman.
