The Samoan
Culture and its Tattooing
Another Polynesian tribe who practiced body modification were the Samoans. All Samoan people were tattooed, with the exception of a few sacred virgins and rulers. The ceremonies and function of the tattoos are unique for men and women but they were equally as gorgeous and important for both genders.  In Samoan culture, males began their tattooing between the ages of 12 and 15, the prepubescent age of most young males. As in most cultures around the world, there are particular events that get special attention. In Samoa, tattooing the son of a chief was an exceptionally elaborate event. It brought the entire community together for a big festival; family gathered in the village, and many outsiders came to share in the festivities. The first night would include a large feast, a sham fight, wrestling, boxing, and dancing. The next day the tattooing would begin. Along with the chief's son, other young men would be tattooed in order to share the ordeal of the young leader passing into manhood. The process would take days, and sometimes many months to complete depending on the pain tolerance and the intensity of the tattoo of those being tattooed. When finally the tattooing ceremony was completed, the O le Lulu'unga-o-le-tatau, or "the sprinkling of the tattooed", was performed. The newly-tattooed boys would go to the "malae" or the temple, carrying torches, being followed by the tattoo artist, the parents, and the rest of the community as well. After a ritual dance full of meaningful gestures and moves, the torches were all put out together. Next, a bottle of water was smashed at the feet of the chief's son and the torches were relit. Then they would all search for the cork of the bottle, and if they could not find the cork, it prophesied that one of the newly-tattooed boys would die. The last day involved the priest who would run water over the tattoos and the scabs would all be taken off. The boys were no longer boys, but men. The tatau and the ceremony surrounding it had great importance and function in Samoan society. Before anything else, it was the initiation of a boy into a man's world. Tattooing also instills "in young men an ethos of violence... the capacity and disposition to meet force with force, and to overcome". The pain being met prepared these young men for war and ultimately, victory. The song that was sung while the boys were tattooed demonstrates that war and tattooing were intrinsically connected: O Fi Filelei, like a necklace of whale's teeth
Aid us when we get ready for war
And Tofou, descended from the gods, aid us
Adorn us with your victories.
As a part of the Samoan psychological warfare, this song was said to absorb through the skin as it was sung. The tattoos were also beneficial to the samoans as a tool for scaring the enemy, alongside the disgusting gesturing they would perform before a war. Similar again to the Maori, tattooing had a practical benefit and that was identifying their dead after battle.
What I think is the most effective and important aspect of the tattoos in their culture is the ceremony and how it brings the community together, and how without fail it has always trademarked their culture. Although the procedure is very painful, and some might even call it torture or abuse, tattooing in Samoa defines what their whole world reflected on: war and their own unity. Although female tattooing was not quite as complicated in regards to function, it served as more of a symbolic statement. Female malu, or tattooing, was different from tatau in both design and placement. Women had malu done only on the hands, arms, legs, and above the groin. These tattoos were an indication of what she was in status: Was she a virgin? Does she have a husband? Has she had children? The female’s tattoos were beautifully designed to allow the others in the tribe to know where she stood in the community and what boundaries not to step over. What makes the Samoans different and perhaps more "blunt" was the last form of tattooing: punishment. This was the only facial tattoo and it was easily recognizable on the nose, and was used for both men and women. Although there is not as much information available on this particular tattoo, it seems importantto note that there was a specific tattoo used only for punishment in this society. Then the white man came….. Weyer states that during the first nine years of the inhabitation of Samoa by missionaries "the tattooing which... made a naked man look almost dressed began to disappear" and even the women's tattooing was replaced by the calico dress as Samoa became "civilized". After repressing this beautiful expression of a distinct feature, the Samoans are again regaining what they neglected as they went along with the missionary’s views….. Their tradition. |