Since the dawn of time, many African peoples have used different signs to mark their bodies, and scarification is still a ritualised practice in many African lands. In the Atakora mountains of Benin, where this image was taken, this practice symbolises membership of an ethnic group p. When one is born into an ethnic group, one must have such a mark on one's body: it is necessary to be integrated into the tribe. The elders say that a child who does not have these marks is not 'human' and if he does not have the incisions, and if he dies before receiving his tribal marks, he will not be buried in the village cemetery because he will attract the wrath of the ancestors.
