The Padaung tribe of Burma considered a long neck beautiful. About
age
5, girls were introduced to the first neck ring. As they grew, rings
were
added. Their shoulders were pushed down, making the neck look
longer. Also,
this showed off the family's valuable metal rings,
indicating wealth. I
think I'd rather be poor! A woman wore up to
twenty pounds of rings on her neck and even more on her
calves!
A
fully stretched neck was between
10-15"
long! A woman could not drink from
a cup,
because tipping her head back would
overbalance
her and she would fall! She could
only
drink from a straw. And
forget looking
at the
sky!
If a woman offended her tribe, her
rings
were cut off and she would choke to
death,
unless someone held her head up!
That
could get boring!
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Families passed the tradition down. A long
neck was a way to attract good husbands
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