content: I gotchu "Among the Nubians, for example, one can read a woman's marital and fertility status in her skin. At puberty, Nubian women are marked by a pattern of scars on either side of their abdomens that join at the navel and continue into a point between the breasts. With menarche a second set of cuts are made in parallel rows under the breasts which continue around to the back and cover the entire upper body. After weaning her first child, a woman is marked with raised welts over her back, neck, arms, and buttocks to the knees. In Southern Egypt and Sudan these raised scars are made by a hooked thorn used to lift the skin, which is then cut with a small blade; ashes or indigo are often applied make the scars more prominent." Source