One of the older texts I am reading on my Kindle is the Journals of Lewis and Clarke. It is quite a slog. Getting through the spelling and grammar is a chore. Then you have double entries for each day, I think one is from Lewis and one from Clarke. I am currently reading the entry for November 1, 1805. At this point they were east of modern Portland.
As they traveled they described the Indian tribes that they met. One thing you learn from historical documents is that the American Indians were not a monolithic culture. Two groups even a few miles apart could speak totally different languages and dress totally different. Today as I read they went into the methods used to mold the heads of their children. Not the minds, the heads. They had previously mentioned flat heads among some tribes, now they described the method of strapping boards on the heads of the babies until the heads went to the form they wanted.
The reason I bring this up is I think we could be looking at a wave of the future. I am thinking of the body mutilation going on in the millennial generation. I am even seeing it in older people who must be trying to relate. Have you seen the picture of the guy that has big rings in his cheeks and nose and you can look through his head? Piercing and tattoos are a growing trend. So I ask, “When you have covered and punctured your body as far as it will go, what next?” How do you set the new trend? I would suggest head molding for children.
I am not wanting this to happen. I find tattoos, studs and rings to be silly at best and ugly most often but keep in mind that I don’t understand why anyone would wear a necklace either. I am just guessing at where the next silly stage will be. Like tattoos, once you have formed the babies head it will be that way the rest of their lives.
Sadly, you heard it here first.
homo unius libri
I assume you're speaking of the Flatheads. And yes, some spaced-out parents may try it.
ReplyDeleteThe Journals use the term flat head a few times but it seems like it is more than one "tribe". I think the Olmec and Aztecs may have done the same thing.
ReplyDeleteGrace and peace