The practice fell out of use as traditional life broke down over the decades since European settlement and by the 1930s was barely done, along with many other aspects of traditional life.

Those that didn't scar prominently enough were mocked. More jagged instruments were used to show macho pain thresholds.īurned wood, ashes, ochre clay, and other such materials were rubbed in to the wounds to increase the scarring and give them and certain shape or thickness.

Western teenagers might celebrate milestones in their life by drinking their first legal beer, posing for photos with their parents, or tucking in to their favourite meal.īut for youngsters in Aboriginal tribes, the celebration was far more painful that a hangover headache the next morning, as spectacular ritual scars on their bodies reveal.īoth men and women had many parts of their bodies cut to commemorate circumcision, marriage, the birth of children, or the death of family members and loved ones.įuneral scars were often part of the grieving process, meant both to honour and remember someone, and to aid in getting over their deaths by mimicking emotional pain with physical pain - both of which would heal.įor some groups, anyone not scarred in the right way was called a 'cleanskin' or unbranded and was not able to participate in many aspects of traditional life or even trade with others.Ĭuts were usually made with a thin piece of rock so sharp it functioned like a surgeon's scalpel and if used correctly would cause minimal pain to children it was used on.

Tribal body paint aboriginal