|
ta'aTu'u
tatau / kakau / pahu pahu
Ancient Hawaiian Body Art Tradition
Tattooing was an art unknown in the western world prior to Captain Cook's first voyage through Polynesia. The word tattoo
is one of only a few words used internationally that have a Polynesian origin coming from the word tatau used in Tahiti, Tonga,
and Samoa. In Hawai'i the word became kakau.
Interestingly, tattoo designs are thought to supply one more clue to the origin of the Polynesian peoples, as they bear
close resemblance to the geometrical designs found on Lapita pottery. The Lapita people originated in Melanesia and Southeast
Asia about 3,000 B.C., and early Lapita voyagers reached Tonga about 1,300 B.C., later settling Samoa and eastward into the
Pacific. Shards of pottery they carried with them have been found throughout the Pacific, pottery whose curvilinear and rectilinear
shapes, spirals, chevrons and interlocking elements are so similar to Polynesian tattoo designs, historians are certain there
was an ancient connection. Even stylized masks and sea creatures appeared on Lapita pottery, as it did in early Polynesian
tattoo forms.
Historians have determined that anyone could have a tattoo, but often it was the more affluent who were the most extensively
adorned, possibly because a skilled tattoo master had to be paid, and poor people could not afford his services. Hula dancers,
both men and women were usually generously tattooed. Women often had tattoos on their fingers, hands, and wrists and frequently
wore band-type decorations on their ankles and lower calves. Queen Ka'ahumanu was known to be tattooed on her legs, the palm
of her left hand and her tongue. Palm tattoos have been recovered on mummified remains.
Hawaiian tattoos were applied under strict religious rules. It was an art attended by ritualistic ceremony, and often
the designs chosen had kaona, or hidden meaning and power. Today, with a resurgence of Hawaiian pride, tattoos are becoming
increasingly common. It's one of the few ancient art forms that is truly Polynesian in origin which has spread throughout
the world.
see: coffeetimes resource info. / clixhere
|
