It is an obligatory rite among various
African tribes to lose two or more of their front teeth. A
tradition among certain Peruvians was that the Conqueror Huayna
Coapae made a law that they and their descendants should have
three front teeth pulled out in each jaw. Cieza speaks of another
tradition requiring the extraction of the teeth of children by
their fathers as a very acceptable service to their gods. The
Damaras knock out a wedge-shaped gap between two of their front
teeth; and the natives of Sierra Leone file or chip their teeth
after the same fashion.
Depilatory customs are very ancient, and although minor in extent
are still to be considered under the heading of mutilations. The
giving of hair to the dead as a custom, has been perpetuated
through many tribes and nations. In Euripides we find Electra
admonishing Helen for sparing her locks, and thereby defrauding
the dead. Alexander the Great shaved his locks in mourning for
his friend, Hephaestion, and it was supposed that his death was
hastened by the sun's heat on his bare head after his hat blew
off at Babylon. Both the Dakota Indians and the Caribs maintain
the custom of sacrificing hair to the dead. In Peru the custom
was varied by pulling out eyelashes and eyebrows and presenting
them to the sun, the hills, etc.
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