NOSE RING

ornament inserted through different parts of the nose for personal adornment and used sometimes to signify social rank. Nose ornaments have been found especially among people in India, New Guinea, Polynesia, the pre-Columbian Americas, Australia, and parts of Africa. Sometimes, the ala, or wing of the nose, and the septum are perforated. Often, only a small hole is made through the septum; but the hole can also be big enough for a finger to be passed through. Not only gold and jewels are worn in the nose: in New Guinea, especially among the Tuburi and the Solomon Islanders, the men wear great pointed sticks or the tusks of wild pig through holes in the nose.