The Mentawia Islands are located in western Sumatra Indonesia, and are the home to the Mentawia tribe. This tribe still participates in the ancient ritual of teeth sharpening. This tradition involves the females in the tribe filling their teeth to points using small stone chisels in order to be more beautiful. They believe that the spirt and human world are separate, if the spirt becomes unsatisfied with its human form the spirt will leave the body and go to the spirt world. The Mentawia believe that sharpening their teeth makes them more attractive to their spirit keeping their two firms together. Old tradition mandated that the initiate was performed to all females at puberty. Although the tradition is no longer mandatory at puberty and has become much less ceremonial some tribe members still perform the ritual in order to be seen more beautiful by their tribe. To perform this ritual a medicine man uses a small stone chisel to chip the teeth to sharp points and then uses a file to shape and smooth the teeth.
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