i think u guys have stepped onto my turf............. 
pls step off if u dun want this...............
The practice of piercing the flesh, then pulling on or hanging by
pierced body parts is not a new custom. It has been a part of Hindu
Culture in Southern India (Tamil Nadu) for thousands of years,
nearly as long among the Sufi of the Middle East, and for hundreds
of years as a part of religious ceremonies of Native Americans. It
is, until recently, and alien and forbidden custom in the Western
Cultures dominated by Judeo-Christian values. What useful purpose
could this have? Why would anybody deliberately choose to
"mutilate" their flesh and "suffer" thus? A huge conflict exists
between Western Culture and those where such piercing rites are
honored.
Core of this conflict centers around different cultural beliefs
about THE BODY. Who does your body belong to? A far distant God who
has strict rules about what you can do with it? Or to a Priest or
other intermediary spokesperson of that real or imaginary divinity?
Does it belong to your father or mother, or a husband or wife to
whom youve been given? Do they have the right to decide what you
can or cannot do with it? Does it belong to the State or Tribe of
which you are a part, or an institution of that State or Tribe? Or
does it simply BELONG TO YOU, the one who lives inside it?
In those cultures where piercing ceremonies have developed, the
attitude is universal: your body belongs to you, and in the
appropriate ritual, it has been given to you to explore the full
dimensions of your being. In Western Culture of the late 20th
century, some of these alien beliefs have replaced old
Judeo-Christian ones. Since the 1970s, the widespread practice,
acceptance and popularity of body modification definitely says, "MY
BODY BELONGS TO ME"! However, like many customs and practices that
originated in other cultures and were transplanted here, only part
of the message seems to have been heard. For example, the art of
tattooing was brought to Europe from the South Pacific by early
sailors and explorers. In Samoa and the Marquesas, the custom of
tattooing was a very sacred and special rite: MAKING A MAGIC
MARK.
It was an initiation, a rite of passage and meant to transform
forever the one who bore it. These sailors brought back the tribal
techniques to make the "MARK" - but did not bring back the "MAGIC"!
And soon European tattooing became a mere novelty, a status symbol
of sailors and outcasts, that replaced the symbolic, geometric
designs of the originators with the only kind of graphic Europeans
understood: crude representational pictures or words on the skin.
The ritual, the magic and the purpose of the originators had been
lost.
