The tattooed hand of a Chiribaya mummy displayed at a museum
Tattoos have been around for thousands of years, but why did people begin doing art and how did it become so popular? This week I'd like to post about the history of tattooing and common interceptions about the art, the good and the bad all throughout ancient tattooing history. Tattooing has been practiced for centuries by many cultures; in each culture tattooing may represent something different. The word tattoo originates from Tatau or Tatu. These ancient tattoo have of course have been done by traditional manners which include the diligent manual poking of the skin using a needle with ink on the end of it. Since the art has been around for so long, in ancient history, every culture has different meaning when the ink is put on. For example in India tattoos were used as tribal differentiation to tell who is from what tribe using cultural symbols. This includes the typical temporary "Henna" tattoo. Tattoos meant signs of religious beliefs, healing and sometimes punishment. In China, characters were marked on prisoner's faces to indicate their stature, this is an example of the art being used in a negative and degrading way. Some cities in Japan have even banned tattoos as they see it as a direct correlation to organized crime within underground communities. A lot of native Indian cultures had chiefs, or persons of high ranking with tattoo patterns on their face representing their rank within the community.
Within the Samoan culture, tattoos on males are referred to as pe'a, and the female tattoo is the malu. These tattoos cover the legs in such a way that it looks like the person is wearing pants from a distance. These tattoos were conducted during ceremonies when boys reach adulthood or when a member of the tribe is being promoted with the chief's authority. Though the pain is extreme, to refuse a tattoo of ceremony within the Samoan culture is extremely offensive. Not only has tattooing been used for symbolism, but also for make-up or in other words "permanent make-up". Cosmetic tattoos are used by women when they want to permanently shade certain parts of their face mainly eye brows or adding colour or blush to areas of the face. In today's day and age tattoos still have the same old qualities, people still practice and get traditional tattoos done to represent feelings, ancestry or belonging of a culture.
Dwayne Johnson's Tatau (Each part of his tattoo has a specific meaning within the Samoan culture)
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