2008 Woodie Awards
Human branding, scarification yield dramatic results
By Sami Parman
Issue date: 3/7/08 Section: Premiere
Originally published: 3/6/08 at 3:12 PM CSTLast update: 3/6/08 at 8:25 PM CST
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Branding and scarification have occurred since the early stages of history.
In Papua New Guinea, in the middle of the Sepik region, the scarification process among the young men of the local tribes is a rite of passage and initiation. The young men's backs are inflicted to resemble alligator teeth in the skin. Alligators were considered holy creatures. Pictures of these body modifications can be seen in Australia's Museum of Body Art.
Branding has been dated back to the ages of Greeks and Romans when they would brand their slaves to show a form of ownership.
Punishment was another use for branding. This punishment was adopted by the Anglo-Saxons, and the ancient law of England, by the Statute of Vagabonds in 1547.
Vagabonds and gypsies were ordered to be branded with a large V on their chest, and slaves who ran away were branded with S on the cheek or forehead. This law was repealed in England in 1636.
In some instances, high school students, particulary the boys, have experimented with their own types of branding.
Edward Bustos, 23, and his friends experimented with self-branding a couple of years ago.
"It was fun at first, now it's just painful," Bustos said.
Bustos and his friends began branding themselves when they were in bars with nothing else to do. They would heat up a fork or a knife with a lighter and place the elements onto their skin.
"First it was just for fun, and then it turned into who could last the pain the longest," Bustos said.
Now Bustos and his friends are left with many scars from their experiment.
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