subject: A Short History Of Face Painting [print this page] A Short History Of Face Painting A Short History Of Face Painting
You will see many kids roaming around fair grounds, children's parties and carnivals with painted faces. Nowadays, face painting is becoming so popular and it's almost always that you see face painting booths in every event. Face painting has been gaining ground the past couple of years and kids have been more than happy to close their eyes and sit still all in the name of having their face painted. Face painting started way back the early days of our ancestors and it's not a newly introduced activity. Face painting had different significant uses before; warriors and ancient tribes used it either for religious purposes, as camouflage or to separate one tribe from the other. Some of the people who used face painting before were the Chinese, Native Americans, and the Egyptians.
When they're going to war or face their enemies, warriors used to paint their faces. It was also used to intimidate their enemies or make them tremble in fear. Tribes who use face paint do it so that they can distinguish themselves from the other tribes. The paintings of their faces usually had different meaning depending on the design and the colors used. The color red stood for war, White was associated with peace, when black was used it meant they were preparing to go to war.
Tribes who used face painting as camouflage did it for hunting and for going into battle. Those who did this would use paint from a natural source and would make their face and sometimes, other parts of their body the same color as the surroundings. This would help them hide from their enemies or secretly sneak up on animals they were hunting. Even in religious purposes, ceremonies, and rituals, face painting is being used too. Some tribes believed that certain colors of face paint would give those wearing it powers.
Face painting is not only a fun activity to do for kids at parties, fairs and carnivals; it also has a very colorful history. Far much different from how we're using it today, face painting back then was rooted on power, tribes, and spiritual beliefs. Face painting invokes no harm in children but it would be much better if you could also explain to them the history of face painting.
