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Ch. 7: Religious Use of Gemstones

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RELIGIOUS USES OF PRECIOUS STONES 253
Similar ornaments, made of a green quartz and of beryl, are in the Kunz collection in the Field Museum of Chicago.
The reason for these strange mutilations, which often cause serious discomfort to those who practice them, is not at all easy to determine. Some have conjectured that by the insertion of bright, colored objects in the ears, nose and lips, members of the same tribe were enabled to recognize each other at a distance; each tribe having selected a particular color. However, although certain local preferences are shown in the matter of color or material, there is no hard and fast rule in this matter, and frequently neighboring tribes will employ stones or shells of the same or similar hue and appearance. Others find in this custom a religious significance and suppose that the mutilation represents a form of sacrifice to the spirits, good or bad, who must be rendered favorable to man by some act on his part showing his unconditional submis­sion to them. Originating in this way the idea of adorn­ment was a secondary impulse. It is a fact that ancient peoples regarded the wearing of ear-rings as a badge-of slavery, and, according to a Rabbinical legend, Eve's ears were pierced as a punishment for her disobedience, when she was driven from the Garden of Eden.
A curious theory was advanced by Knopf.45 He calls attention to the habit children have of thrusting small bright objects into their noses and ears, and sug­gests that this indicates a natural propensity which, coupled with the early-developed love of adornment, in­duced primitive man to affix ornamental objects on or in the nose, ear, or mouth. There may be more in this than we are willing to admit, but on the whole it seems
" " De ornatu oris, nasi et aurium," Gottingaa, 1832, p. 43.
Ch. 7: Religious Use of Gemstones Page of 467 Ch. 7: Religious Use of Gemstones
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