One of the most ancient body modifications was the art of tattoo. The word tattoo originally came from the word “tatau” a Polynesian word. Tattooing was a practice in many cultures, they vary in style, in the rituals performed, the significance behind it and even on the ways to have a tattoo.
Usually a tattoo was made by means of a needle and an indelible ink to change the skin’s pigment, but as you read this article, you will find out more bizarre ways of obtaining a tattoo. Tattoo nowadays is a part of fashion, one can obtain a tattoo whenever he like. If I would compare the ways on how get a tattoo the modern way from getting a tattoo the ethnical/cultural way, I can say that it is far different from the other.
Once comparison is, when getting a tattoo the modern way there is only one method, and that is by means of an electric gadget with needle on it. The cultural/ethnical way on the other hand has lots of ways to ink a person, if you want to know how, this article will answer your curiosity.Here’s top 10 lists of the Weird Tattoo Facts.
1 – Vine Needle of the Li
The Li, this ethnic minority in China can be found at the south of the Nanling mountains. They used vine needle, a bowl of dye and a small club when they perform tattooing.
The teenage girls in their group were marked by means of tattoo to symbolize the end of the youthful years and a start of the adult life.
When the experienced tattoo woman begins the marking, the girl’s mother is beside her and beside the mother is the assistant of the one who will make the tattoo.
The tattoos are usually seen on a woman’s face, chest, legs or hands.
2 – Tortoise shell and Piece of Bamboo of the Samoans
Samoans use this tool and dip it in the special black ink. This ink is made from soot of burnt candlenut shells, they dip the bamboo and then puncture the design into the skin.
The Samoan males were tattooed at the age of fourteen (14) to eighteen (18) or when they were already determined that they stopped growing.
The Samoan word for tattoo is “Tatau” which can be defined as correct or rightness. This term was said to be mispronounced by Englishmen that is why the word “tattoo” was used instead.
3 – Yakuza’s Irezumi
The Yakuza in Japan‘s “irezumi” means “insertion of ink”. This one is an expensive and painful way of getting tattooed because it takes years to be finished.
They can be tattooed using non-electrical, hand-made and hand held tools with needles of sharpened bamboo or steel.
Yakuza concealed their tattoos in public, but one of the often times where they can show their tattoo is when they play Oicho-Kabu cards. This is part of their culture that they display the tattoo they have with their fellow Yakuzas.
4 – The Bontoc’s Distinctive Body Tattoo
This is an ethnic group found in the Chico River in the Central Mountain Province of the Philippines. They have certain types of tattoos and all of them have a very distinctive meaning.
If one has a tattoo on the chest, you are the head-taker/head-hunter. The tattoo is mostly inked to the warriors of the Bontoc tribe.
Also, in this tribe women are only tattooed on their arms, the tattoo design was called pong’-o.
5 – Ainu Women’s Tattoo
The Ainus are indigenous people who are believed settlers in Hokkaido, the Kuril Islands.
The women here have tattoos on their mouth and even on their forearms. The tattoo was inked when they are still young and a small spot on the upper lip is the first part that gets inked.
Ainu women used the soot deposited on a burnt pot and the birch bark is used for the fire’s fuel.
6 – Tattooing the Polynesian Way
Polynesian tattoos has been characterized by elaborate geometrical designs ever since. Its culture started since the ancient world and has very significant factor in their social and cultural living.
Polynesian use a flat bone which has the shape similar to a chisel and filed sharp at one end to form a comb-like series of pointed teeth attached to a long wooden handle.
This will be stroked by a small mallet after dipping it into a mixture of soot and water. Not all was privileged to perform the tattoo ritual, the artist held a hereditary and highly privileged role, most of the times it was a Polynesian priest.
7 – Carved Not Punctured
The Maori is a group of indigenous people in New Zealand. In their group only the persons who belong to the higher social status can receive Ta moko.
The moko is the way how they put tattoo on someone’s body part and instead of puncturing the skin’s dermis, they carve the skin, resulting in grooves.
If you belong to the higher class it is likely to receive moko in the face so that one’s social status will be easily recognized. Moko were also considered to make a person more sexually attractive.
8 – Sumatra’s Mentawei Women
They can be found in the Mentawei Islands. In Indonesia, this group of people was recognized as the most notable tattoo cultures which were still unchanged up to this day.
Mentawei women have facial tattoos and most men will have their tattoos on their body.
The men’s tattoo serves as a history book which tells the success hunting and of important event in his life
9 – Tattoo as Qualification
The “Badasun”, that what the Atayal tribe members call their facial tattoos. The Atayal tribe is a group of indigenous people in Taiwan The facial tattoo in this tribe place a significant role in their society.
If a man has a facial tattoo, it signifies that he can protect his homeland and if an adult woman has it, it is a proof that she is qualified to weave cloth and perform housekeeping.
10 – Voltes V-inspired tattoo
In Papua New Guinea, there’s a group of people who perform tattooing on their female children at the age of five (5).
The Koita people inked their women from that age and will add another tattoo every year.
When they reached the marriageable age, they will be tattooed with a V-shaped design on the chest, this is to signify that the female can now have a family.
