Many of us have some extra facial hair whether we are male or female. Some women have extra thick facial hair because of a genetic disorder. However,according to the Huffington Post, Julia Pastrana was named the 'Mexican Ape Woman' because her face was covered in thick facial hair.
Julia Pastrana, the ape woman from Mexico, had so much thick facial hair that she sang and danced for money. After she died back in 1860, in Moscow, Russia, from a fever she developed after giving birth to her baby son, she was put on display because back then humans were treated as collectible specimens.
Ms. Pastrana has finally been buried and laid to rest in her home town of Sinaloa, Mexico. This is after 150 years of being deceased and put on display in the Victorian era. The ceremony of when she was finally laid to rest was treated as an end to the era when humans were treated as collectibles.
Here is the story of Julia Pastrana, the ape woman:
Julia Pastrana was born not only with thick facial hair but a jutting jaw and some other deformities which made her resemble an ape. She was found by showman Theodore Lent and was taken around the U.S to sing and dance for people who paid to watch this fascinating person. She then married Mr. Lent and they had a son together. However, she developed a fever while giving birth and she and the baby both died in 1860. Her remains were then put on display at the University of Oslo in Norway. After so many times of Sinaloa pleading for her remains to be given back to be laid to rest, the wish was finally granted and she has been buried and laid to rest after being deceased for 150 years.
The mayor of Sinaloa stated, “Julia Pastrana has come home. She has been reborn among us. Let us never see another woman be turned into an object of commerce.”
The funeral started with a Roman Catholic Mass in a local church and then the coffin was carried to the cemetery where she was laid to rest while traditional music played in the background.
Because Ms. Pastrana has finally been laid to rest, other museums and academic institutions have started to send the human remains they have on display back to the homelands and tribes to be laid to rest as well. This is a part of an important movement between Europe, Asia and Africa where it is a tradition to keep the remains of certain people on display in museums and academic institutions. It is being said that this is their way of apologizing.
Scandinavian countries have been a little bit delayed in the movement to “apologize” for displaying the remains of ancient people. However, European countries have so far sent more than a half million remains back to their Native American tribes.
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