Why Did Pirates Wear Earrings?
Eyesight: There is an acupuncture point in the ear-lobe which relates to eyesight, so pirates wore earrings to improve their vision Sea-sickness: Sea sickness is brought about by a miniscule imbalance, and an earring in one ear corrects that imbalance. Portable wealth: A gold hoop in the ear would be a relatively safe way of transporting one’s wealth around. Funeral expenses: Earrings were worn to pay for a funeral if the pirate drowned and his body washed up ashore. Funeral expenses 2: Earrings were worn to pay the ship’s cooper to make a barrel to transport the pirate’s preserved body home in, so he would not be buried at sea or in foreign lands Funeral expenses 3: Earrings were worn to ensure that the pirate did not die a pauper and had at least some wealth to pay for his funeral. Mark of a voyage: Pirates wore earrings to signify that they had made a particular voyage, common ideas are going south of the Equator or rounding Cape Horn. Although all of the above theories (and the man
I imagine it had a little to do with a couple different things. It was probably bling…just like we wear jewelry as a status thing today, as a way for a pirate to brag about how successful they were, and maybe how dangerous they were to have gotten all their loot. Equate it to a “grill” today. I have all this money, might as well stick it in my ears or wear it on my teeth. It may have reflected some of their rubbing up against other cultures as they went place to place, indigenous people who were piercing and tattooing as rites of passage or in their spiritual practice. Are we sure that pirates did wear earrings? OR is this just the Hollywood of it all. It may be that they didn’t, wanting to keep their profession and their wealth a secret. I can see a pirate being quite a paranoid fella.
A famous portrait of Howard Pyle’s depicts the notorious Captain Kidd, clearly wearing an earring. And movie pirates usually don them, too. Did they wear them in real life? Evidently so. Our resident pirate expert, Toby Gibson (librarian and historian, who has made a lifelong study of pirates) writes: “While I’m sure Hollywood was trying to make leading men such as Errol Flynn and Douglas Fairbanks, Sr, look suave and exotic, real pirates were piercing their ears for a more practical purpose. It was believed that piercing the ears with such precious metals as silver and gold improved one’s eyesight. This was the main reason pirates performed such a ritual. It must also be noted that most other seafaring men also indulged in this practice. “While for years this was considered an old wives’ tale, today the art of acupuncture lends some credence to the practice of ear piercing. The earlobe is an acupunture point for several eye ailments. It is quite possible that the practice of ear pierc
