Samoan Tatau's and My Culture

Tattoo is the act or practice of marking the skin with pictures, legends, etc, by making pictures in it and inserting pigments. Tattoo has been around for many years, it all started in 1991, at first it wasn’t used or view as symbolic but rather used to mark criminals or member is a religious group. In this generation, tattoo has become more popular among people especially adults and it has become more like a fashion.

The word “tattoo” is actually the combination of words from two different cultures. The Polynesian word to strike something, “ta”, and the Tahitian word meaning to mark something, “tatau” (Designboom, 2010). The form of body art known as tattooing has developed artistically, improved technically, and changed stylistically throughout the past two centuries. Not only has the public perception changed over the years, but the methods and machinery used to create these wonderful pieces of art has also changed drastically. Once viewed as only acceptable for sailors, criminals, and circus performers; tattoos, have taken a giant leap from their humble roots. However, they couldn’t have become as popular as they have without the inspirational

My senior project was over the History of Tattooing, I chose this as my topic because Tattoos really interest me with all the different styles and meanings behind them. Some things I already knew about Tattooing is a lot of tribes used tattoos to symbolize things, but I didn’t know what.

Similar to that idea, not all Polynesian tattoos have the same flow and shape as others. Along with that, there are also different meanings for different designs. In the Maori culture, tattoos are not always based on the life a person is living but also on milestones that they’ve reached. “For the Maori these tattoos symbolize spiritual rituals related to specific events in a person's life. The Maori men were only allowed to receive their first tattoo upon reaching adolescence.” (Laura du Toit). There was also a process that went along with receiving a Maori tattoo that one would have to partake in order to receive a tribal tattoo. “Before receiving a Maori tattoo the person would have to fast. The entire lwi would be present at the ceremony itself and this would be celebrated with music and dancing.” (Laura du Toit). In Samoan cultures, tattoos were also very sacred due to the meaning it held. “It means that a soga’imiti (traditional Samoan male tattoo) has a higher social status in his community than others, and is given more opportunities to learn correct protocol, history, oratory skills and other intricacies of the Fa’asamoa.”

Tattooing is the art of marking the skin with indelible patterns, pictures, or legends by making pricks and inserting colored ink. The word itself has its origins in the South Pacific. The art had been referred to as pricking, scarring, or staining until explorer Captain James Cook encountered the indigenous peoples of Tahiti. (Wilkinson 6)

Tattoos have been around since 450 BC, it was used to mark the criminals and those fallen from social grace. But since then or since the Europeans discovered the “New World” and the tattooed tribes, its concepts has changed many times. You could classify the different changes in six eras in the tattoo history; the colonist or pioneer Era, the circus or carnival Era, the working-class era, the rebel era, the new age era and presently the supermarket era. The colonist or pioneer era was between the 1760s and 1870s is when the Europeans discovered tattoos amongst Native American tribes such as Hawaiians and Borneans whose tattoos had spiritual meaning, it was a way to protect themselves from physical harm and snakebite. But after their introduction with the Europeans

A tattoo is a mark with an intricate design on the flesh by inserting pigment into the skin. In “Tattoos Gain Even More Visibility”, Trebay discusses how tattoos and body modifications are progressively becoming the norm in today’s society. Trebay is an author at the New York Times and writes mainly about fashion. He discusses the potential affects markings and piercings pose on everyday life.

In different modern culture people often express themselves with tattoos. People express their beliefs and, in some cases, prove themselves, like fight to prove that they are worthy to be in that culture. Some cultural tattoos, like ones from Japan, can tell a story or indicate one’s social status. People have to prove to themselves and the other members of their culture that they belong. Cultural tattooing has many different meanings to many different cultures.

The Oceanic tribes viewed a person as a blend of “life forces, physical substances, and ritual knowledge” that came from multiple sources and were constantly changing. Since they viewed a person as such, they would do ritual tattooing. This was meant to harden the body and be part of the admittance into adulthood. Then one would go through severe pain to have extensive tattooing done to have a rite of passage into ritual empowerment. Some Oceanic tribes would tattoo the whole body, such as the Marquesas, while others would only tattoo the buttocks and thighs. In Figure 11.24, Tomika Te Mutu of Coromandel, shows the nineteenth century Maori Chief covered in facial tattoos. The Maori’s would use a chisel to create such tattoos. Facial tattoos

In this specific culture, there are rules saying what men and women can and cannot ink onto their bodies. The Hawaiian culture have standards when it comes to a person’s body. The right side of the body is for the men, which is called Kū, the left side of the body is for the women, which is called Hina. They represent the masculinity and the femininity in ourselves to balance and/or even out our souls. The men wear tattoo designs on half of their face, inner and/or outer lining of the arm or leg, the backs of the hands, and the front of the body. Just like the men, the women wear tattoo designs on the inner and/or outer leg (specifically the upper thigh area), the wrists, and the back of the hands, the fingers, the arms, the neck, the ankles, and the chest. The priest is the only abled body to actually practice these tattoos, rituals which consist of ceremonies and chants. But present day techniques are usually done by expert

The Samoan Culture The Samoan Culture is a very diverse and completely different one from the American culture. The Samoan people do and view many things in different perspectives from the American people. For one thing, they are located on completely opposite sides of the world. Both the Samoan and American cultures do things in their own unique ways. The differences in culture can be perceived through their language, religion, clothes and food.

The history of tattooing date back to the first man, Otzi, in 3300 B.C. who was found frozen in the Alps (Nat-A-Tat2) and the history piercing date back to different primitive tribes for their beliefs (Tribu). Scientists say that the tattoos he had were for medical reasons. When they found his body, they took X-rays and where there were tattoos was where his bones had started to decay. His tattoos were on his back, knees, ankles, and feet. The ink used on his tattoos was made of powdered charcoal and rubbing it into his cut skin. Many ancient civilizations did tattoos and piercings for example the Egyptians, Greeks, Japanese, Arabian and Siberians. Many mummies have been found with tattoos and are the oldest bodies to be found with gauged or stretched earlobes (Tibu). The Egyptians were also the ones who brought tattooing to Greece and to Arabia (Nat-A-Tat2). In Japan, tattoos were used for beauty, beliefs “and to mark criminals” (Nat-A-Tat2).

For as long as there have been people, there have been methods of distinction amongst them. Throughout the years we have discovered ways in which to express our beliefs, our ideals, and our passions. Tattooing has been one of forefront methods in expressing our humanity, or in certain cases, our lack there of. For so many, they have taken on many different representations, each with an equal level of significance. The importance found in the symbolism of tattoos and their cultural relevance has consistently been a trend found throughout history, religion, and art.

The tattoo is a very old form of body modification, but in spite of that there is still a certain rejection towards those who carry them in a visible area of the body, for some it disfigures what has been created in the image and likeness of God while for others associates this with convicts or gang members mainly because they were one of the first groups to use tattoos to differentiate themselves from the rest of society. But also it is true that there is a very limited understanding about this corporal modification that could be one of the reasons why it can not be appreciated as for how it should be. However, modern society reflects the current popularity of tattooing because it has acquired an entirely artistic meaning to a social expression and a way of identity.

The Samoans are an ethnic group that reside in Oceania, on the islands of Samoa, in an area of Polynesia. Samoa has been occupied by these indigenous people for about 3000 years, when they came from the west, occupying the islands of Fiji and Tonga around the same time (Barnes and Hunt 2005, 243). They carry many traditions with their culture, however, I will be discussing their tradition of tattooing. Tattooing is the process of inserting ink pigment into someone’s skin to create a permanent design on them. For Samoans, tattoos are much more significant than just a pretty piece of artwork, they are, according to Ryman (2004), a right of passage. I will be reviewing the importance of cultural tattoos, the process of being tattooed, and the varying origin stories of how tattooing first came to Samoa. Samoan tattooing matters because it is a cultural tradition that has been practiced in Samoa for over 3000 years (Ellis 2006, 698).