Why Did Pirates And Sailors Wear Earrings?

Question: Why did pirates and sailors wear earrings?

Answer: Ancient pirates and sailors wore earrings for a number of reasons. Earrings were a sign of their travels and voyages. Young sailors received earrings to commemorate their first crossing of the equator, or when they rounded the treacherous waters of Cape Horn, the southernmost tip of South America.

Earrings were also worn for superstitious reasons. Some pirates believed that the precious metals in an earring possessed magical healing powers. They were convinced that wearing an earring would improve or even cure bad eyesight. There were also those who thought that pierced ears would prevent seasickness. A gold earring served often as a protective talisman preventing a person from drowning.

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Earrings made of gold and silver were used as money. If a pirate or sailor drowned and washed up on the beach, the earrings would serve as payment for a proper Christian burial. Sometimes, they engraved the name of their home port on the inside of the earring so that their bodies could be sent to their families for a proper burial.

Earrings also protected pirates against hearing loss.  Pirates firing the ships’ cannons during close combat with the enemy dangled wads of wax from their earrings to use as earplugs.

So, earrings certainly served a number of purposes.

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