What You Dont Know About Maori Tattoo Designs

Avoid Poor Maori Tattoo Design Mistakes

How the maoris arrived on the shores on New Zealand.

From Eastern Polynesian culture, tattooing was brought to New Zealand as per archaeological evidence.

In some early Eastern Polynesian sites and in archaeological sites in New Zealand, tattooing bone chisels were found. Although the Maori practiced tattooing, there is no evidence that the Moriori people did.

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In the earlier times of New Zealand, the early sites can showcase the widest chisel blades, leading to proving the theory that there might be a preference towards rectilinear tattoo patterns.

The head was considered the most sacred part of the body, and because tattooing caused blood to run the tattoo craftsmen, or "tohunga-ta-oko", were very tapu persons. All high-ranking Maori were tattooed, and those who went without tattoos were seen as persons of no social status.

Many rites and rituals occur at puberty, including tattooing. In addition to making a warrior attractive to women, the tattoo practice marked both rites of passage and important events in a person's life.

During the tattooing process, there are a lot of prohibitions - *** intimacy and eating of solid foods are forbidden when facial tattooing is taking place. Due to swollen skin, liquid food and water was drained through a wooden funnel to be sure that there will not be contact with any contaminating product. There is just no choice; until the wounds heal, this is the sole solution if a tattooed person would want to eat.

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The full faced tattoo was very time consuming, and a good tattoo craftsman would carefully study a person's bone structure before commencing his art.

Often, leaves from the native Karaka tree were to be placed over the inflamed tattoo cuts to fasten the healing process, because this is extremely long and painful. Warriors only had so much time to recover, since wars are numerous. During the tattooing process, flute music and chant poems were performed to help soothe the pain.

Even though at that time the tattoos were mainly facial, swirling double spiral tattoos on both buttocks can be seen in North Auckland warriors, they often even lead down their legs until the knee.

Unlike the men, women are not as comprehensively tattooed. The upper lips were outlined usually in dark blue. The nostrils were also very finely incised. From then until into 1970s, the ever most popular will be the chin moko.

From the maoris point of view taking from their culture without asking them or having a design on you that is a replica is a weakening of their identity in terms of their culture, westernising them further through the stealing of their heritage and also they feel that they will eventually have nothing left that is sacred and original for them to hold onto in the future.