Local Girl With Good Diction

Facebook User Abraham Isaac Adigun wrote:

Miss Faith Odunsi, 15 years old represented Nigeria🇳🇬 at the Global Mathematics Competition, beats China, United States of America, United Kingdom and others and became the world best mathematics student ...

The judges called her Calculator in the end.

She is schooling in Nigeria not abroad, she should be celebrated.

Congratulations NIGERIA 🇳🇬

I am fine ✔
I'm fine ✔
Am fine ❌

Please work on your writing and speaking skills. Do not be the reason schools or countries force an English-speaking national to take an English exam to enter a foreign university or nation.

Women have endured a lot in the name of culture and tradition. If they aren't being deformed to avoid being attractive, they are being mutilated to avoid them from being promiscuous, or face modification in what some term beautiful from Africa to Asia the stories are the same.

Our last post was on the Chinese women whose feet had to be folded to fit into small shoes considered fashionable I captioned the post Golden lotus.

Today we were looking at the "Apatani Woman” of a tribe found in the Indian valleys.

The day an Apatani woman reached puberty and had her first period, her face was inked, and her nose plugged marking her as an adult. Such face modifications aimed to make the woman unattractive and undesirable to the tribal raiders.

The plan worked but not without a cost.

Firstly, the wooden nose plugs called “Yaping Hullo” were not placed in the nostrils but pierced on each side of the nose. The initial pain was terrible, and so was the discomfort.

Secondly, the process of getting a face tattoo was perhaps even worse. The tattoo of an Apatani woman, “Tippei,” is a thick black line that goes from the top of her forehead, down the entire face, and splits into 4–5 lines on the chin. The tattoo is done by a thorny plant that is dipped in a mixture of soot and pig’s fat. The thorn is placed on the skin and then hit with a small hammer until the face is inked. The bleeding is abundant, and so is the pain.

Ultimately, agonizing as the whole process was, the women were safe. But after some time, an unexpected thing happened.

The nose plug and face tattoo practices that were intended to make the Apatani women unattractive became an important part of the tribe’s culture. The women did not only not rebel against the changes but were proud of their unique looks. The modifications were even seen as beauty symbols and were desired by the Apatani tribesmen.

But it was not to last.

In the early 1970s, the Indian Government imposed a ban on nose plugs. It was said that they made the Apatani women easily recognizable and therefore prone to discrimination. The ban was not well received by the tribe. But eventually, they made their peace with it.

Today, less than 30.000 Apatani people are left. And whereas the younger generations are leaving the villages to work in towns, the elders are keeping the rich Apatani culture alive. Many of the women reminiscence about the old days when every dress had to be handmade and call their nose plugs and face tattoos beautiful. They take pride in standing out and being recognized as members of the Apatani Tribe.

Picture credit: Wikipedia commons

Sources: Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities & Atlas of Humanity.

https://historyofyesterday.com/the-unsettling-story-behind-the-nose-plug-tradition-aff0927233fe

The spirit of Easter is all about hope, love, and joyful living. Here is wishing you all the love and happiness that only Easter can bring.

Have a joyous celebration with your family!

Happy Easter Sunday!