Friends are burning each other with cigarettes in the latest trend to show friendship bonding?
In an instagram post by Tana Mo-Jo, Gigi Gorgeous and Tana burn each others’ arms with cigarettes. The caption read “we decided that in order to become blood sisters we’d burn each other”. Some users began tagging their friends in the comments reminiscing on when they had done the same, or pitching the idea to try themselves.
The pain game, also called a homie burn, is the act of putting out a cigarette, cigar, or blunt on a friend to bond you for life. The game is pretty well known amongst friends: Danny tweeted – “BFF” for my friends, means to turn off their cigarette in my arm. DANNY! YOU NEED NEW FRIENDS!
And while a lot of friends prefer to do it in secrecy, some videos have made it onto the internet. The homie burn is an evolution from a game started years ago…where friends would drop a lit cigarette between their arms and see who moves first to prove who has a higher high pain tolerance.
Obviously, this ended in a lot of burn injuries and some nasty scars, and to show just how dangerous this game is, we’re not going to spare you the images. They can get pretty gnarly. Sometimes they even scab over and bleed.
If you’re struggling with thoughts of self-harm and need to talk to someone, a great resource is the self-harm textline Text CONNECT to 741741
But bonding activities like this have existed for centuries. Some fraternities even have a historical tradition branding their incoming pledges, although in 2019, we would call that “hazing” and “bad”.
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And chances are you had a friend as a kid who wanted to become a blood brothers or sisters by drawing blood and combining it.
Blood covenants date back to the middle ages…and probably even before… where the act is supposed to symbolize a rebirth of the two friends bonding as if they were true brothers. Branding was also used in the middle ages, though it was more of a form of punishment than bonding.
Here’s to hoping it’s not the next viral challenge!
-What do you think about the pain game? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter at @WhatsTrending.
