Scouring the earth and wikipedia for all the clues
THOSE SICK BASTARDS
Human Branding
Stigma is a Greek word that ORIGINALLY referred to markingS or tattooS WHICH WERE CUT or burned into the skin of CRIMINALS, SLAVES AND TRAITORS FOR PURPOSES OF IDENTIFICATION as blemished or morally polluted persons
Human branding, or stigmatizing, is the process by which a mark, usually a symbol or ornamental pattern, is burned into the skin of a living person with the intention that the resulting scar is permanent. This is performed using a hot or very cold branding iron. It therefore uses the physical techniques of livestock branding on a human. Historically, this was done as a punishment or to identify an enslaved, oppressed, or otherwise controlled person. It is also practiced as a “rite of passage“, e.g. within a tribe, or to signify membership of or acceptance into an organization, or as a form of body modification.
United States
As criminal punishment – For slavery – As religious initiation
Britain
Persisting practices
Generally voluntary, though often under severe social pressure, branding may be used as a painful form of initiation, serving both as endurance and motivation test (rite of passage) and a permanent membership mark, seen as male bonding. Branding is also practiced as a form of body art and sometimes in BDSM relationships.
