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You should know and understand the importance of this type of tattoo. Perhaps you can tell your life’s story through one of these special tattoos, just as many Polynesian warriors did centuries ago. This type of tattooing developed into a highly refined artform over many centuries. The shapes, designs, and placement all worked together to tell a unique life story. Sea creatures like sharks, turtles, stingrays, and fish are important, meaningful symbols as they can be the totem animals for the owners.
What are the meanings to these common Polynesian tattoo designs?
To represent this, a human figured must be placed on or near the shell of the turtle. The tiki can also represent deified ancestors, priests and chiefs who became semi-gods after their passing. They symbolise protection, fertility and they serve as guardians. Bella Jiang is the founder and editor of Tattoo HQ, an online authority site for tattoo enthusiasts and artists. After graduating from art school in China in 2010, Bella worked as a designer before pursuing her passion for tattooing full-time in 2015.
Arm Polynesian Tattoo Designs
The most common design constituted a series of dots and lines extending from one ear to the other, covering the forehead of the bearer. Part of the belief was that tattoos were a necessary prerequisite to be able to communicate with the divine. These tattoos were spread over the entire body of the bearer, with the exception of the face area. The Samoan tattoos for men were big in size reaching from below the rib cage to the ankles, and they are called pe’a. On the other hand, the feminine tattoos (malu) were large in size but lacked the black areas.
Placement On The Body
Not only are they some of the oldest, but they have a distinct tattooing style compared to other Polynesian people. Luckily, since the 1960s, there has been a cultural revival of Polynesian traditions like tattooing. Nowadays, people use tattooing to express and preserve the Polynesian culture, which western ideology had long suppressed.
Shark teeth are representative of courage, guidance, power, ferocity, and adaptability. The word hono, which means ‘turtle’ in the Marquesan language, has several meanings attached to it. It also represents the idea of unity and stitching together families. Turtles are often designed with many patterns and symbols to express different meanings.
Tiki Tattoo
They bring good luck and fortune and have access to the spiritual world. But on the other hand, the can also bring destruction and a bad chance to people who are impolite while approaching them. The tufuga ta tatau will start by stretching the skin, using his hands to pull it taut.
Images from Hawaiian Mythology and Lore
For many, the unique designs represent things of importance in their lives. These intricate, beautiful designs continue to hold a special place in modern society. Oftentimes, certain tattoos were placed as a sign of protection or to harness power from the spirit realm.
Is Still Possible to Get a Polynesian Tattoo With Traditional Tools?
The shoulders and the upper arm are related to strength even in the common lifestyle. In a Polynesian culture too, it is related to vitality and endurance and is significant for people who are warriors and guardians. The word, kikopuku, is used to describe this part of the body which is the combination of Kiko (flesh, body) and puku (swollen).
Traditional Polynesian Tattoo Designs With Meanings
True Samoan tattooing is more painful than Western tattooing and is done without machines using inks made from soot and a bone or shell for a needle. One popular modern Polynesian tattoo style is blackwork, which involves using bold, solid black lines and shapes to create intricate designs. This style is often inspired by traditional Polynesian patterns and symbols, but with a contemporary twist. Black-and-grey styles, on the other hand, incorporate shading and gradients to add depth and dimension to the tattoos.
The tattoo comb, also known as a “au,” is made from bone, turtle shell, or wood, and is carved with sharp teeth or needles. The comb is then dipped into ink made from natural pigments, such as burnt coconut husks or soot, and tapped into the skin using a mallet or a small wooden hammer. Many traditional shapes from tribal tattoos originate or are inspired by different ancient tribes such as Native Americans, Hawaii, Polynesian, Celtic, Filipino, or Haida. All tattoos mean something; even if the wearer just likes the way the design looks on their skin. Another layer of significance beyond this personal meaning is given to tattoos when examining tribal work.
However, the downside to this new fascination was that tattoos were being worn with little understanding of their cultural connotations. In addition, European colonialism banned tattooing in the 18th century due to religious views about marking one’s body. In many Polynesian cultures, tattoos were worn especially by warriors. Traditional Polynesian styles are marked by the use of only black ink. Today, this still applies to most cases, but you can also use tones of grey or even color. Tiki are stylized human characterizations, usually represented in wood or stone carvings.
This kind of tattoo shows your muscle, strength, and endurance linked to your ability to focus on the body and its image. The tattoo ritual was done in separate sitting, usually lasting a whole day, and they had a healing time between each one. Islanders went to multiple tattoo rituals throughout their whole life until the whole body was covered in the tattoo. Only priests that took a long time to specialize in the tattooing process were able to perform these rituals.
What you should know about the traditional Hawaiian art of tattoo - Hawaiimagazine.com
What you should know about the traditional Hawaiian art of tattoo.
Posted: Thu, 06 Aug 2015 07:00:00 GMT [source]
This component of the body is related to creativity, invention and executing tasks. The stylized variant of this entata is a group of them joined together in a row and seemingly holding hands. The motif is called ani ata which means ‘cloudy sky’ in Polynesian culture. The spearhead is the ancient symbol of war or battles, enmity, and triumph.
She covers topics like tattoo history, artistic styles, safety tips, design inspiration, and more. Polynesian tattoos and other images can blend with a great visual appeal. So you can decide to include some elements that are meaningful to you. People always tend to go for multiculturalism, so why not include that into tattoo design. It all depends on how you approach the culture in the tattoo design.
Polynesian patterns are so creative that it can easily be passed as a wrist band. Hawaii is known for following such a trend and they even have a famous name for it. It is called Ohana, which means an intimate group of people who grow, teach, feed, and learn from each other as a family. Looking at the gender, the left is customarily linked with women and the right to men.
Because tattoos were viewed as sinful in the western world at that time, this special art form went into decline. The stylized pattern of the lizard symbol is highly similar to that of enata, or the symbol for a human. Some sources suggest that the reason for this is that in Polynesian myths, gods and spirits often appeared to humans in the form of lizards. The symbol can represent a female, male, or divine figure and, unsurprisingly, hold meanings related to humanity and relationships. Broadly speaking, the majority of Polynesian tattoos symbolize power, courage, protection, achievements, and divine blessing.
