Lip plate
Encyclopedia
A lip plate, also known as a lip plug or lip disc, is a form of body modification
. Increasingly larger discs (usually circular, and made from clay or wood) are inserted into a pierced hole
in either the upper or lower lip
, or both, thereby stretching
it. The term labret
denotes all kinds of pierced-lip ornaments, including plates and plugs.
Archeological evidence indicates that labrets have been independently invented no less than six times, in Kamchatka
(8700 BC), Iran (6400 BC), the Balkans (5000 BC), Sudan (3700 BC), Mesoamerica (1500 BC), and Coastal Ecuador (500 BC). Today, the custom is maintained by a few groups in Africa and Amazonia.
Some scholars have argued that in Africa, labret fashion boomed because slave traders refused to purchase slaves whose appearance was not considered "pristine" for the prospective buyers.
In Africa, a lower lip plate is usually combined with the excision of the two lower front teeth, sometimes all four. Among the Sara people
and Lobi
a plate is also inserted into the upper lip. Other tribes, such as the Makonde, used to wear a plate in the upper lip only. In many older sources it is reported that the plate's size is a sign of social or economical importance in some tribes. However, because of natural mechanical attributes of human skin, it seems that the plate's size often just depends on the stage of stretching of the lip and the wishes of the wearer.
In South America, lip plates are nearly always made from light wood.
Among the Surma
(own name Suri) and Mursi
people of the lower Omo River valley in Ethiopia, about 6 to 12 months before marriage the woman's lip is pierced by her mother or one of her kinswomen, usually at around the age of 15 to 18. The initial piercing is done as an incision of the lower lip of 1 to 2 cm length, and a simple wooden peg is inserted. After the wound has healed, which usually takes between two and three weeks, the peg is replaced with a slightly bigger one. At a diameter of about 4 cm the first lip plate made of clay is inserted. Every woman crafts her plate by herself and takes pride in including some ornamentation. The final diameter ranges from about 8 cm to over 20 cm. (The young woman pictured on p 89 of is wearing a 21–22 cm plate.)
Many recent sources (Beckwith and Carter for example) claim that, for Mursi and Surma women, the size of their lip plate indicates the number of cattle paid as the bride price. However anthropologist Turton, who has studied the Mursi for 30 years, denies this. Shauna LaTosky, building from observations and conversations during field research among the Mursi in 2004, discusses in detail why most Mursi women adorn themselves with lip plates and concludes with a narrative that reveals the value of the lip plate within a discourse of female strength and self-esteem.
These days, it appears that Mursi girls of age 13 to 18 decide for themselves whether to wear a lip plate or not. The lip plates worn by Mursi and Surma women have been instrumental in making them a popular tourist attraction in recent years, with mixed consequences for these tribes.
In some Amazonian tribes, young men traditionally have their lips pierced when they enter the men's house and leave the world of women. Lip plates there have important associations with oratory and singing, and the largest plates are worn by the greatest orators and war-chiefs, like the well-known environmental campaigner Raoni of the Kayapo tribe.
In the Pacific Northwest of North America, among the Haida, Tsimshian
, and Tlingit, lip plates used to symbolise social maturity by indicating a girl's eligibility to be a wife. The installation of a girl's first plate was celebrated with a sumptuous feast.
Tribes that are known for their traditional lip plates include:
Aleut, Inuit
and other indigenous peoples of northern Canada, Alaska and surrounding regions also wore large labrets and lip plates; these practices mostly had ceased by the twentieth century.
Some tribes (Zo'e
in Brazil, Nuba
in Sudan, Lobi
in west Africa), wear stretched-lip ornaments that are plug- or rod-shaped rather than plate-shaped.
In the West, some people, including some members of the Modern Primitive
movement, have adopted larger-gauge lip piercings, a few large enough for them to wear proper lip plates. Some examples are given on the BME website.
promoted them as members of the Ubangi tribe, but the Ringling press agent admitted he picked that name from a map
for its exotic sound. Nevertheless, the word Ubangi is still given this definition in English language dictionaries. The word was used in this way in the 1937 Marx Brothers
film A Day at the Races
.
Body modification
Body modification is the deliberate altering of the human body for any non-medical reason, such as aesthetics, sexual enhancement, a rite of passage, religious reasons, to display group membership or affiliation, to create body art, shock value, or self expression...
. Increasingly larger discs (usually circular, and made from clay or wood) are inserted into a pierced hole
Body piercing
Body piercing, a form of body modification, is the practice of puncturing or cutting a part of the human body, creating an opening in which jewelry may be worn. The word piercing can refer to the act or practice of body piercing, or to an opening in the body created by this act or practice...
in either the upper or lower lip
Lip
Lips are a visible body part at the mouth of humans and many animals. Lips are soft, movable, and serve as the opening for food intake and in the articulation of sound and speech...
, or both, thereby stretching
Stretching (body piercing)
Stretching, in the context of body piercing, is the deliberate expansion of a healed fistula for the purpose of wearing body piercing jewelry. Ear piercings are the most commonly stretched piercings, with nasal septum piercings, tongue piercings and lip piercings/lip plates following close behind...
it. The term labret
Labret
A labret is one form of body piercing. Taken literally, it is any type of adornment that is attached to the facial lip . However, the term usually refers to a piercing that is below the bottom lip, above the chin...
denotes all kinds of pierced-lip ornaments, including plates and plugs.
Archeological evidence indicates that labrets have been independently invented no less than six times, in Kamchatka
Kamchatka Peninsula
The Kamchatka Peninsula is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of . It lies between the Pacific Ocean to the east and the Sea of Okhotsk to the west...
(8700 BC), Iran (6400 BC), the Balkans (5000 BC), Sudan (3700 BC), Mesoamerica (1500 BC), and Coastal Ecuador (500 BC). Today, the custom is maintained by a few groups in Africa and Amazonia.
Some scholars have argued that in Africa, labret fashion boomed because slave traders refused to purchase slaves whose appearance was not considered "pristine" for the prospective buyers.
In Africa, a lower lip plate is usually combined with the excision of the two lower front teeth, sometimes all four. Among the Sara people
Sara people
The Sara are an ethnic group in Central Africa, who reside mostly in Chad, making up approximatively 30% of its southern population.-In Chad:...
and Lobi
Lobi
The Lobi are an ethnic group that originated in what is today Ghana. Starting around 1770 many of the Lobi migrated into southern Burkina Faso and later into Côte d'Ivoire. Currently the group consists of around 160,000 people...
a plate is also inserted into the upper lip. Other tribes, such as the Makonde, used to wear a plate in the upper lip only. In many older sources it is reported that the plate's size is a sign of social or economical importance in some tribes. However, because of natural mechanical attributes of human skin, it seems that the plate's size often just depends on the stage of stretching of the lip and the wishes of the wearer.
In South America, lip plates are nearly always made from light wood.
Among the Surma
Surma people
Surma is a panethnicity residing in South Sudan and southwestern Ethiopia. It includes the Nilo-Saharan-speaking Suri, Mursi and Me'en.-Overview:...
(own name Suri) and Mursi
Mursi
The Mursi are a Nilotic pastoralist ethnic group that inhabits southwestern Ethiopia. They principally reside in the Debub Omo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region, close to the border with South Sudan...
people of the lower Omo River valley in Ethiopia, about 6 to 12 months before marriage the woman's lip is pierced by her mother or one of her kinswomen, usually at around the age of 15 to 18. The initial piercing is done as an incision of the lower lip of 1 to 2 cm length, and a simple wooden peg is inserted. After the wound has healed, which usually takes between two and three weeks, the peg is replaced with a slightly bigger one. At a diameter of about 4 cm the first lip plate made of clay is inserted. Every woman crafts her plate by herself and takes pride in including some ornamentation. The final diameter ranges from about 8 cm to over 20 cm. (The young woman pictured on p 89 of is wearing a 21–22 cm plate.)
Many recent sources (Beckwith and Carter for example) claim that, for Mursi and Surma women, the size of their lip plate indicates the number of cattle paid as the bride price. However anthropologist Turton, who has studied the Mursi for 30 years, denies this. Shauna LaTosky, building from observations and conversations during field research among the Mursi in 2004, discusses in detail why most Mursi women adorn themselves with lip plates and concludes with a narrative that reveals the value of the lip plate within a discourse of female strength and self-esteem.
These days, it appears that Mursi girls of age 13 to 18 decide for themselves whether to wear a lip plate or not. The lip plates worn by Mursi and Surma women have been instrumental in making them a popular tourist attraction in recent years, with mixed consequences for these tribes.
In some Amazonian tribes, young men traditionally have their lips pierced when they enter the men's house and leave the world of women. Lip plates there have important associations with oratory and singing, and the largest plates are worn by the greatest orators and war-chiefs, like the well-known environmental campaigner Raoni of the Kayapo tribe.
In the Pacific Northwest of North America, among the Haida, Tsimshian
Tsimshian
The Tsimshian are an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Tsimshian translates to Inside the Skeena River. Their communities are in British Columbia and Alaska, around Terrace and Prince Rupert and the southernmost corner of Alaska on Annette Island. There are approximately 10,000...
, and Tlingit, lip plates used to symbolise social maturity by indicating a girl's eligibility to be a wife. The installation of a girl's first plate was celebrated with a sumptuous feast.
Tribes that are known for their traditional lip plates include:
- The Mursi and SurmaSurma peopleSurma is a panethnicity residing in South Sudan and southwestern Ethiopia. It includes the Nilo-Saharan-speaking Suri, Mursi and Me'en.-Overview:...
(Suri) women of EthiopiaEthiopiaEthiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2... - The SuyáSuyá peopleThe Suyá also called the Kisedje are a group of indigenous people living in Brazil, at the headwaters of the Xingu River. They have, historically, been best known for an unusual form of body modification which they practice. After marriage, Suyá men often have their lower lip pierced, and have a...
men of BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
(most no longer wear plates) - The SaraSara peopleThe Sara are an ethnic group in Central Africa, who reside mostly in Chad, making up approximatively 30% of its southern population.-In Chad:...
women of ChadChadChad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
(ceased wearing plates in the 1920s) - The Makonde of Tanzania and Mozambique (ceased wearing plates several decades ago)
- The BotocudoBotocudoBotocudo , is the foreign name for a tribe of South American Indians of eastern Brazil, also known as the Aimorés, Aimborés, or Krenak people...
of coastal BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
(in previous centuries, both sexes wore plates)
Aleut, Inuit
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
and other indigenous peoples of northern Canada, Alaska and surrounding regions also wore large labrets and lip plates; these practices mostly had ceased by the twentieth century.
Some tribes (Zo'e
Zoe (tribe)
The Zo'é Tribe are a native tribe in the State of Pará, Municipality of Óbidos, on the Cuminapanema River, Brazil. They are a Tupi–Guarani people.-Name:...
in Brazil, Nuba
Nuba
Nuba is a collective term used here for the peoples who inhabit the Nuba Mountains, in Sudan, Africa. Although the term is used to describe them as if they composed a single group, the Nuba are multiple distinct peoples and speak different languages...
in Sudan, Lobi
Lobi
The Lobi are an ethnic group that originated in what is today Ghana. Starting around 1770 many of the Lobi migrated into southern Burkina Faso and later into Côte d'Ivoire. Currently the group consists of around 160,000 people...
in west Africa), wear stretched-lip ornaments that are plug- or rod-shaped rather than plate-shaped.
In the West, some people, including some members of the Modern Primitive
Modern primitive
Modern primitives or urban primitives are people in developed nations who engage in body modification rituals and practices while making reference or homage to the rite of passage practices in "primitive cultures" These practices may include body piercing, tattooing, play piercing, flesh hook...
movement, have adopted larger-gauge lip piercings, a few large enough for them to wear proper lip plates. Some examples are given on the BME website.
Ubangi misnomer
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, African women wearing lip plates were brought to Europe and North America for exhibit in circuses and sideshows. Around 1930, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & BaileyRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is an American circus company. The company was started when the circus created by James Anthony Bailey and P. T. Barnum was merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling brothers purchased the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907, but ran the circuses...
promoted them as members of the Ubangi tribe, but the Ringling press agent admitted he picked that name from a map
Ubangi River
The Ubangi River , also spelled Oubangui, is the largest right-bank tributary of the Congo River of Central Africa. It begins at the confluence of the Mbomou and Uele Rivers and flows west, then bends to the southwest and passes through Bangui, after which it flows south to the Congo at Liranga....
for its exotic sound. Nevertheless, the word Ubangi is still given this definition in English language dictionaries. The word was used in this way in the 1937 Marx Brothers
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...
film A Day at the Races
A Day at the Races (film)
Further reading* Elisabeth Buxbaum: Veronika, der Lenz ist da. Walter Jurmann – Ein Musiker zwischen den Welten und Zeiten. Mit einem Werkverzeichnis von Alexander Sieghardt. Edition Steinbauer, Wien 2006, ISBN 3-902494-18-2-External links:*...
.
External links
- Youtube video showing Sara Kaba women with the double lip plates they used to wear
- flickr: Surma and Mursi maxi-lips
- Plughog.com: Lip Stretching Guide