Since the dawn of time, many african people were using different signs to mark their own body. Scarification is still a ritualized practice in many African provinces; in the Atakora Mountains, in Benin, where this image is taken , this practice symbolizes belonging to a particular ethnic group.
When you are born in an ethnic group, you must wear such a mark on the body: it’s necessary to be integratd into the tribe.
So all children, when they reach two or three years of age, are cut into their faces with an intricate series of lines with an iron tool.