THE SAILOR'S EARRING

Curiosity

Ear rings have a special significance for seafarers.

In the old days, people wore gold earrings and earrings in their ears to carry their wealth on them, because if it was carried in a bag, there was a risk that a thief would steal the bag.

Hence the preference was to pierce the lobe with a hoop of noble metal (such as silver and gold) and wear it in a place where it could not be stolen so easily.

Another explanation is that the hoop earrings were a symbol used by seafarers to let anyone who looked at their ears know that they had crossed the most dangerous capes on the planet.

The Great Capes is the name given in navigation to the three main southern capes on the sea route across the Southern Ocean: the Cape of Good Hope (southern Africa), Cape Leeuwin (southern tip of Australia) and Cape Horn (at the southern tip of South America).

According to ancient seafaring tradition, sailors who have sailed past these capes accomplish a feat that entitles them to wear three rings in their ear:

Ring in the left ear: Cape Horn.

Ring in the right ear: Cape of Good Hope.

Two rings in the left ear and one in the right ear: Round the world voyage.

Another tradition states that young pirates were offered a small earring to commemorate their first crossing of the Equator.

The earrings were worn for superstitious reasons. Some sailors were convinced that wearing earrings improved vision problems and that pierced ears prevented seasickness on the high seas.

Another belief was that these earrings (silver or gold) were valuable enough to pay for a sailor's funeral if his body, drowned at sea, washed ashore.

Some sailors even had the name of their home port engraved on the inside of their earring. In this way it was known where the sailor was from and also so that his body could be returned to his relatives for a proper burial.

In addition, if a sailor died on a ship, the earrings helped to cover the cost of transport to his hometown, so that he avoided being buried on foreign soil.

If someone found the corpse of a seafarer, he could keep the gold earring only if he gave the dead body a Christian burial.

Otherwise, if the person kept the hoop without burying the body, the spirit of the unfortunate seafarer would haunt him for the rest of his life.

These are some of the explanations why sailors wore earrings in their ears.

So if you set sail and make it past Cape Horn, pierce your earlobe with an earring.

Let everyone know that, like many adventurers before you, you made it through reefs, shoals, gale-force winds, rain, snow, mist....

May your pendant be the sign of your experience on the high seas and may it never have to pay for your funeral.

Source: Northern Breezes and Norberto Ramirez