Everybody is here with you. The spirits are here with you. All of Samoa is with you. The first hit goes along your spine. After that all you hear is tap tap tap tap tap … for the next five days. Chris Lemuelu photo taken by www. Samoa is an idyllic group of Polynesian islands in the South Pacific, which Germany, the United States, and Britain all fought to dominate during the late 19th century. The Tripartite Convention of eventually brought an end to this war of deluded entitlement, partitioning the islands into two, with America annexing the eastern island-group, which is still known as American Samoa.
Control of Western Samoa was divided between the two remaining belligerent nations. Through European methods of trade and communication, the colonial powers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries introduced new technology, languages, religion, culture, and ideologies that transformed Samoa in many ways.
Young men receive it as a rite of passage into adulthood. Traditionally, this process takes five days although often it can take weeks and is extraordinarily painful: rudimentary combs of different sizes, each made up of razor-sharp teeth attached to a turtle shell attached at a right angle to a stick, are repeatedly dipped into ink and tapped into the skin using a mallet, known as iapalapa.
The tufuga tattooist tattoos freehand without any guide to reference. The design is made up of perfectly symmetrical lines, triangles, arrows, dots, and other geometric patterns.
Each element is imbued with sacred, mythological meaning, and, equally meaningfully, the tattooing begins on the spine, moves around the torso, up the hips, encapsulates the thighs and buttocks, and ends around and inside the belly button. Chris Lemuelu's back is still visibly embossed photo taken by www.
The ritual involved serves to clearly define and give meaning to the initiation. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the process was laden with elaborate and formalised dancing, sham fights, and wrestling matches.
Affronted by the heathen revelries associated with tatau , the early Christian missionaries from onwards sought to ban tattooing and continued to apply censorship pressure up until Although this supression had varying degrees of success in different parts of the archipelago, Samoan men persistently sought opportunities to acquire tatau elsewhere throughout the islands, and it is because of their obstinacy that the ceremony exists today—albeit bereft of fights, wrestling, and dance, yet abounding with singing and musical instruments.
Christian missionaries and colonialists have a well-known history of effacing indigenous ritual and replacing it with their own ecclesiastical forms of ceremony. I believe that the effects of this practice on young, modern men unfortunately still reverberate today. You could be forgiven for thinking that many of your friends are long overdue for their transition into adulthood.
It is believed that men who have gone through a rite of passage are likely to be less pathological or to contest the moral and ethical code of their milieu. The declining purview of religious and institutional authority, coupled with the failure of capitalist culture in providing sacred and durable meaning for existence, has hindered the transition into adulthood.
There is no commonly shared and culturally ingrained demarcation by which contemporary men may leave the proclivities of their youth behind and move ahead, armed with wisdom imparted to them by respected authoritative figures.
You may disagree and rattle off numerous examples for contemporary forms of rituals performed for a change in status, yet it is difficult to offer any that embody what Arnold Van Kemp recognised in his original and seminal work, Rites Of Passage , as the three fundamental stages of an initiation: separation, transition, and incorporation.
First, separation is to leave the collective identity and traverse into the unknown. Chris Lemuelu, Samoan by descent, lives in Melbourne, Australia, and tells me about his ritualised journey from adolescence to adulthood. These guys are important. Second, transition is the process of change from child to man via a symbolic death and rebirth, where the initiate comes into contact with the sacred.
In fact, often what happens when people wait until the end of their trip and then they are too sunburned to even get tattooed! I actually tattoo most people at the start of their trip and it is never a problem.
The saltwater is actually healing for your tattoo. Can I swim afterwards? Yes to lagoon, No to swimming pool. Most people getting an average-sized tattoo will have no problem going in the lagoon. In fact, ancient Tahitians used to go into the lagoon immediately after receiving a tattoo in order to speed healing. Can I go in the sun? The sun will not ruin your tattoo but it is best to keep it protected as your skin will be sensitive and a sunburn on top of a tattoo would be painful.
Do you do colored tattoos? Though I have used colored inks while doing tattoos in Europe, I do not do colored tattoos here in Moorea. The reason being that tattoos in Tahiti are traditionally made only with black ink and I prefer to follow tradition.
How much does it cost? First I need to know if you are thinking about a regular tattoo made with a modern tattoo machine or a tattoo made traditionally with the ancient tools. The reason for the difference in price has to do with the amount of labor involved. First, I have to make the traditional tools. I usually use wild boar tusk. Ironically, this much less common sight is among the oldest and most traditional forms of tattooing in the world.
A huge part of this is finding the right tufuga. By some miracle, we found a renowned tufuga who lived in Auckland on a two-week break between tataus who agreed to do it.
And he was amazing. So much experience; his work is gorgeous. Finding the right tufuga is also extremely important because he chooses what the tatau actually looks like. There are two people that just stretch the skin to the correct tension, shave, and wipe the blood. They had to do multiple cold showers and massage the tatau with soap to prevent infection. The process is slow, meticulous, and painful. The second morning, I woke with a degree fever, cold sweats, throwing up and my body shaking.
I had made a critical mistake — not eating enough for my body to endure the physical trauma. These visible marks on my body remind me of the unseen marks of mental preparation, endurance, and control needed to complete the tatau. We use cookies for analytics tracking and advertising from our partners. Honoring the culture and the history behind this type of tattoo is essential.
These types of tattoos are very painful even when using tattoo guns or machines because of the amount of detail that is incorporated. This is especially true for skinny people that do not have a lot of cushion below the skin. For this reason you will want to think long and hard about your decision to get a Samoan tattoo. Originally posted by Ross Blackman. A Samoan tattoo is traditionally done with a tattoo comb. American tattoos are usually done with tattoo guns which use a needle to puncture the skin and insert the ink.
Samoan tattoos are done by placing a tattoo comb on the end of the stick, dipping the stick into the tattoo ink, placing the comb against the skin, and hitting the stick with a mallet to force the ink into the skin.
This is done repeatedly and so instead of hearing the buzz of a normal tattoo gun you would hear the repetitive tapping of two pieces of wood. Tap, tap, tap, I can hear it in my head. Originally posted by john waters. Samoans use the same tribal symbols in tattooing as they do in some of their local art work.
These symbols are everywhere in American culture. Tap Out shirts worn by fans of professional wrestling is one of the most prominent places you will see the tribal symbols of this traditional form of tattooing. You will also find these symbols in fabric patterns as well as wallpaper. Originally posted by Michele Wilson.
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