Captive Bead Rings

The term “captive bead ring” suggests an association with a gang that wants to capture an enemy. Some gang members do chose to wear a captive bead ring, but not for the above-mentioned reason. The placement of that ring produces a minimum of pain, because it requires no clamp or staple. Clamps and staples remained unknown to the people who first started decorating themselves with the captive bead ring. The following paragraphs should offer the reader new information about the origin of the captive bead ring. That information might cause the reader to wonder whether or not the mutineers from the Bounty ever saw a man or woman wearing a bead ring.

Between 1768 and 1776 Captain James Cook made several round the world voyages. During one such trip, his tall, sailing ship took him to the Polynesian Islands. When his sailors returned to England, they told their friends about some of the customs practiced by the Polynesian people.

Records indicate that those sailors told their friends about the Polynesian method for decorating the body—a method that produced what the natives called a “tattoo.” Certain members of English society chose to adopt for themselves the practice of getting a tattoo. One wonders if those tattoo enthusiasts also heard about some of the other practices that added to the mystique of the Polynesian culture.

One wonders, for example, if the tattoo enthusiasts had heard about the strange custom that used something resembling a captive bead ring. If those tattoo enthusiasts saw Polynesians wearing a captive bead ring, they appear not to have shared that fact with their friends. People living in western societies did not initiate use of the captive bead ring until well after Crook had had his life shortened, during his final voyage.

At the present time, a growing number of young people have elected to pierce a body part, usually the tongue or ear, in order to wear a captive bead ring. Placement of the ring does not require the use of any sort of clamp or staple. The ring’s bead is held in place by the pressure of the ring. Because the bead stays in place, the ring does not become dislodged from its intended location.

Today’s captive bead rings can be made from steel, nobium, titanium or gold. At the time of Captain Cook, the Islanders adorned themselves with gold rings. Some might even have used white gold captive bead rings. Perhaps society is lucky that it took such a long time for use of the captive bead ring to become a popular form of adornment.

If people had tried using captive bead rings at the time of Captain Cook, they might well have found themselves plagued by a terrible infection. At the time of Captain Cook, society had less understanding of the need for caution when doing any sort of body piercing. Back then, a person asked to pierce a tongue or an ear might well have proceeded without use of alcohol or other disinfectant. The result would have been much infection, and a probable loss of interest in the captive bead ring.

Interestingly, some of the groups most impressed with the degree to which Cook promoted world unity are also opposed to the sort of customs that his travels introduced. They do not see a future united world in which many people are wearing captive bead rings.