French Polynesia Tattoo
Polynesia French Tattoopoignancy
Since tattoos have been practiced in the Polynesia Delta for centuries, they were probably known to the first immigrants before they moved to French Polynesia. Tattoo ", "tatoo" and "tattow" come from the Tahitian words tahau - which can be interpreted as "repeated beating" - was used to describe the practise of typing ineradicable signs on people' sskins.
The Europeans ignored this practise until Cook found it during his journey to the Marquesas Isles. In his journal he wrote: "They are printing characters on people's bodies and calling this Tattow" (Voyages of Captain Cook by Banks). Omain, the first Tahitian to go to Europe, quickly became known, also for his tattooing.
Later on, many seafarers were getting a tattoo on the Polish Isles, which strengthened the seafarers' seafaring traditions. In addition, some castaways came back from the South Pacific with a tattoo of their bodies: they were nicknamed "beach robbers". Upon their arriving in the Polish Isles, the missionaries convert the natives to Christianity and the practice of tattoo-gilding is outlawed.
Tattooing, always a living part of humanity' s past, has achieved a particularly advanced state in Polynesia, where Tapu BONNET - the oldest tattoo artist in the area - calls it the "language of the ancients". Because of their geographic isolations and their opposition to Western civilization, Marquesas Island sculptures represent the most perfect tattoo in the entire Polish Triangle.
Since there is no script in Polish civilization, Polynesians used this kind of painting full of striking symbols to show their identities and personalities. Tattoos have been used to help determine your state in a hierarchy society: gender, societal standing and ranking as well as the distinction between families. Tattoos were not only used for charity but also as good defense against badits.
Throughout this celebration, the young men showed their trattoos as evidence of the success of their studies before they were accepted into the adult class and recognised by the group. It was an artistic practice governed by rigid legislation that spread throughout Polynesia across the 5 Archipelago.
Only tattoo artists could do it, a prestigious job that took a long time of study and schooling. Tattoos have always been closely connected with Marquesan tradition and civilization. Male body could be completely inked with geometric characters, even on the face and intestines.
At the other end, the only tattoos a woman has done are on her shoulder, lower back, palms and the edge of her orgasms. Most of the extraordinary diversity of design is related to the natural world such as wildlife (turtles, shark, lizard or tropic birds), plant life (bamboo, sucrose, coco palms, pandanus leaf....) or sometimes with legend or activity like fish.
Studying the drafts on Marquestian objects enabled us to comprehend how someone was placed in society: a face with a tattoo exposed to which strain he belongs; a face with a violet was very high. Females over 12 years of age had to get their right hands inked before they could make a food and eat with the world.
On the Society Isles, the human face was never affected and the human anatomy was covered with Z-shape tattoos. "Bank-advocates had also realized that the most frequently Tatooed part of the human buttocks. Tattoo practices in Tahiti vanished faster than on the other Polynyas. Tattoos were only practised in the east part of the Tuamotu Mountains.
Female faces, shoulder, arms, feet and bottom wore geometric symbols, with men's faces and body covering with uneven characters; the use of trigons and check patterns was reserved for brave people. Tattoos in the Australians are similar to those on the Society Islands, although the design is mostly similar to the line of tattoos they produced.
Tattoos were obligatory for men in Gambier, but are seldom used on males. When it was banned by the missionaries, the tattoos vanished entirely and only returned in the 1980s thanks to the memoirs and drafts of over 400 paintings by Msn. Karl von Steinen. Today in French Polynesia you will find many places where you can get a tattoo.
Some of the most famous and loved tags are the turtles, the tikis, the geckos, the rays and many Marquesas-design. In April 2000 the first international tattoo show was held on the "holy island" Raiatea. There were 50 tattoo artists from all over the globe and it had a great hit.
Wellsprings: and thanks to Polynesian Tattoo - Past & Present, by Gotz.