One of the most recurrent questions we get from new friends approaching Polynesian tattoos for the first time is "What do Polynesian tattoos represent?", so we thought we should expand on the previous article.
The purpose of Tattoo Art in Polynesia
One of the most recurrent questions we get from new friends approaching Polynesian tattoos for the first time is "What do Polynesian tattoos represent?", so we thought we should expand on the previous article.
The question is actually not pointless at all, because when we talk about Polynesian tattoos we deal with several different traditions and styles.
There is not a single purpose to Polynesian tattoos, but there are some recurrent reasons shared by most traditions, some of which are common to cultures all over the world, and some more specifically Polynesian.
Perhaps the most common reason for a tattoo, still prominent nowadays, is to mark an accomplishment or a specific moment in the life of an individual.
In ancient times this could mean reaching puberty or adulthood, achieving an accomplishment like killing a foe, or having fulfilled a specific training.
Female hand tattoos were often used to allow trained women to serve specific foods that were considered tapu, sacred.
The Samoan male tattoo marked the moment a young man was ready to be an active part of the community, and to take a leading role in his family.
The Maori moko kawae, the tattoo on the lips and chin of a woman, represents her family and the service she has given, her ability to speak for the family.
Another goal of Polynesian tattoos was to make the bearer more appealing, and to promote fertility.
We find this aspect to be very prominent in Samoan tattoos (being relatively at peace and prosperous, Samoans focused on a style that could reflect this) and in Maori tattoos, where both male and female tattoos had a strong sexual connotation.
Protection is one of the main purposes for Polynesian tattoos.
Samoan tattoos like the masculine pe'a and the feminine malu both share this trait.
The term pe'a translates as "flying fox", and it refers to the traditional male tattoo that covers the body from above the hips down to just below the knees, resembling a flying fox hanging from a tree as shown below:
The flying fox is a social animal living in large colonies, who protects its young ones by surrounding them with its wings.
The pe'a tattoo similarly wraps the body from waist to knees.
The term malu translates as "shield", and it refers to the traditional female tattoo covering the thighs to just below the knees.
The element with the same name, which always appears behind the knee, represents the four walls of the house and has the double meaning of protection and place of family unity:
The term patutiki translates as "drawn figures", and it defines the traditional Marquesan tattoo. It's a very bold style of tattooing, with consistent presence of solid black parts, aimed at protecting and empowering by striking fear into enemies and collecting mana (more on this later):
Traditional Hawaiian tattoos as depicted upon first contacts incorporated checkered patterns on the pec and often the left side, to recall the woven shields carried by warriors on the left hand (opposite to the right hand, which held the weapons):
Perhaps the most unique reason for getting a tattoo in Polynesian cultures is deeply rooted in the concept of mana, which translates as "life force, authority".
Mana can be inherited by birth, and it can be increased by means of following a conduct based on established rules aimed at the prosperity of the whole community. The community is always held above the individual.
The reason is very clear if we consider the colonization of the Pacific, where no individual alone could have ever attained such feats which took whole clans over several generations to achieve.
In a society with no written alphabet, oral traditions and graphic arts are the means by which the whole body of lore is passed on to the new generations.
Tattoos are an important part of this, where family history gets often portrayed using specific symbols that connect one generation to the next in an age-long tradition that gives each individual a place and a role within the community, in the pursuit of a greater goal.
That's why we so often see ancestors represented in Polynesian tattoos: it helps passing their mana on to their descendants, and keeping their memory alive bridging past, present and future together.
Polynesian tattoos are never just nice designs. They have stories, meanings, and purpose, which empower their bearers.
