Do you know why pirates wore earrings?
Miscellaneous / / July 17, 2023
It was not a matter of love for beautiful trinkets - the considerations were purely utilitarian.
When we hear the word "pirate", we imagine a formidable sea robber sailing the seas in search of treasure and adventure. Real pirates, of course, were a little different - and we already told about it. But in modern culture, their image is heavily romanticized, and nothing can be done about it.
One of the things that is always associated with pirates, besides cocked hats, wooden legs and prosthetic hooks, are gold earrings. Both real people like Edward "Blackbeard" Teach or William Kidd, and fictional characters like Jack Sparrow (sorry, Captain Jack Sparrow!) are all portrayed with jewelry in their ears.
Where did such an image come from? The fact is that real sea robbers really liked to wear earrings. There were several reasons for this - both mystical and purely practical.
Many pirates believedthat the earrings have magical powers. These jewelry, like rings with bracelets, were considered amulets that could scare away sea spirits and protect the wearer from evil. The pirates were extremely superstitious: when your life depends on the will of the winds and the strength of the wooden shell that you call a ship, you really want to seek help from higher powers.
Therefore the pirates did not shun rituals and amulets that gave at least some illusion of protection. For example, they had a belief that wearing a piece of rope from the gallows, sewn into a hat, or a mummified hangman's hand protects against hanging.
In modern culture, pirates are portrayed as desperate blasphemers, but in fact they were distinguished by God-fearing. For example, their captains, at the time of taking office, took an oath of allegiance to the team on the Bible. In general, the corsairs were ready to pray for a fair wind to both God and the devil.
Putting on a bunch of amulets to keep Davy Jones out of the spotlight or meeting the Flying Dutchman? Great idea!
Some pirates also believedthat earrings with certain stones also help against blindness, deafness, seasickness, infections, and similar misfortunes.
There was also a more prosaic reason for the love of pirates for earrings. For theft in the fleet, the most severe punishments were due: from beating with a whip to dragging under the keel. But despite this, many pirates did not trust teammates much. Everything honestly stolen by overwork will whistle from you, and remember your name. When you swim in the company of seasoned criminals, this does not happen.
That's why, according to piracy historian Gail Salinger, filibusters often carried all their savings literally on themselves: they put coins in body belts, melted them into bracelets and rings. In general, they adhered to the principle of "I carry everything with me." And earrings are especially well protected from thieves thanks to the natural sensitivity of human earlobes - try stealing this hefty piece of gold from your ear unnoticed.
In addition, if a pirate died in battle or his body was found at sea, the presence of jewelry provided some guarantee that he will be buried humanly. Some sailors even engraved the name of their home port on the inside of the earring so that their bodies could be delivered to their families for burial. Having sold jewelry, relatives could pay for the funeral service, and for superstitious corsairs this was important.
Finally, earrings had another interesting use case - about him tells non-fiction writer Doug Lennox. Cunning robbers attached pieces of beeswax to these decorations. And when the time came to shoot from the cannons, they pinched it off and plugged their ears so as not to become deaf from the roar. A simple yet effective pirate hack.
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