Gold collars question answered

I have written about the picture in the Art Gallery at the University of New England’s Westbrook College campus – of the “Ring-Necked Girl, Thailand,” by Jack Montgomery. My curiosity about the long, metal collar is answered, in “The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mankind,” in that college’s own library.

The article I read about Burmese women contains several pictures of these neck rings too. “A long neck is often desirable, but taken to extremes by the long necks of certain Burmese women. The length of the neck and the number of copper or brass rings have a strong aesthetic appeal, but they can also reflect wealth, status and tribal identity.”

A description of the brass rings tells of a Padsaung (Burma) woman in full costume, an impressive sight, with long black hair wound into an elaborate bun on top of her head, secured with a large silver comb and long wooden or silver pins. Around the neck are 20 or more brass rings, which rise from a collar of about five large rings resting on the shoulders.

The neck rings arouse the most curiosity from strangers. They stretch the neck and force the chin upwards and forward, so that Padsaung women eventually acquire a characteristic forward thrust of the head, a raised chin, and a voice best described as strangulated. The first five rings are acquired at a special ceremony at about 10 years of age. In succeeding years further rings are added until a mature woman may have 20 or more around her neck. A long neck is considered to be of great beauty, and women patiently allow their necks to be subjected to long hours of massage and manipulation so as to increase the number of rings they can wear. A weight of 7 kilograms (16 pounds) is common today.

For many years, it was said that if a woman had to be punished for some crime, her neck coils would be removed. This, it was said, could be fatal, as it was believed that the wasted neck muscles would be unable to support the head vertically. In fact, the story is now known to be untrue, for in practice the neck muscles soon develop and it returns to a normal length. Today, removal is not uncommon, since if a woman adopts Christianity she will no longer wear the rings.

Ah, I’m so glad to know all this, and I’m very glad we don’t wear those neck rings in our country.

If you want to see the picture at the art gallery, this exhibition is on until July 3, and admission is free. It is a favorite gallery of mine, small and beautifully designed.

Next week’s column will have an article on the WLU’s interesting luncheon, cooked on an open hearth, at the 1797 Narramissic farmstead, now owned by the Bridgton Historical Society.

‘Foul is fair in this mad world’

I was curious about this headline in the May 15 New York Post, in Cindy Adams’ column; I found that she is upset about many things that bother me, too – single ladies as proud mommies; single men as proud mommies, doctors no longer making house calls, “If you’re sick and dying you have to come in for an office visit. Or if you’re just a stethoscope away from the last rites, dudes who’ve taken the Hippocratic oath can assess your chances via computer.” These are only a few of her gripes.

But her next comment really interested me. She wrote “Eminem is referred to as ‘the poet of his generation.’ I mean, he’s talented and everything, but Henry Wadsworth Whatsisface he’s not. Rhyming ‘ho’ or ‘bitch’ is not exactly ‘By the shore of Gitche Goomee.'”

Aha, you see, Cindy even knows Longfellow’s “Hiawatha!”

Under a picture of Eminem in her column is this cutline: “NO RHYME OR REASON: Is rapper Eminem ‘the poet of his generation’ or the bard of the bawdy?”

I really enjoyed her long column – an unusual one, too.

Gloomy forecasts chill tourism

This headline in the May 24 Boston Herald told of the gloomy weather in Massachusetts; tourists are canceling reservations at motels and hotels after hearing extended weather forecasts, and the merchants are very upset. The article says that the average May temperature this year in the Boston area has been 51.5 degrees, putting the region on track to recording the third coldest May since 1872.

But we can’t blame the meteorologists. We have had the same bad weather, rainy and with low temperatures here in Maine – but the good news is that we can expect the five weeks of gray and drizzly weather in the northeast to break up near the end of this week. Hurray!

Recipe

In the cookbook “Cooking with Agnes,” published in 1994 by the Cookbook Committee, United Church of Christ at North Gorham, is the pie recipe for this week.

Toll House Pecan Pie

4 eggs, beaten

1 cup dark corn syrup

3 Tbls. melted butter

1 cup pecans

1 cup sugar

1 Tbls. flour

2 tsps. Vanilla

Mix, put in unbaked 9-inch pie shell. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

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