Spicy!

Something about the color in the latest painting made me title this post absurdly. While drawing and painting this little ditty, I started to think of the meaning of body decoration. Nose rings? Really? That's comfortable? I'm a total no nonsense, no extra fuss person, so the aggravation of putting more things on my body that required pain or disfigurement just never appealed to me. So I researched a bit.
Nostril piercing is a body piercing practice often associated with India. In Northern India the outside of the left and in Southern India the outside of the right nostril is the preferred position of the piercing as this is supposed to make childbirth easier. Who, what... huh?? Slightly apropos that my woman is kneeling in a pool of blood. This is because Ayurvedic medicine associates this location with the female reproductive organs. The word "Ayurveda" roughly translates as the "knowledge of life," "knowledge of a long life" or even "science of life." In India piercings were regarded as a mark of beauty and social standing as well as a Hindu's honor to the god Parvathi the goddess of marriage in the 16th century.

So next time I see one of the teen aged Food Court Wizards at the neighborhood mall all bedecked in their nose rings, I'll give them a wink. "Anything to make childbirth easy, kids!" They might whip their Auntie Annie's pretzel at my head though.