Pe'a

Peʻa, tattoo of the men of Samoa.

Peʻa is the name for the traditional "tatau" ( tattoos ) of men in Samoa . Another name is malofie , a word from the vocabulary of the chiefs in the Samoan language and from the group of " terms of respect" ( gagana fa'aaloalo ). Tatau is an ancient Polynesian art form related to the rites of passage for men. Peʻa is also the name of the Samoan flying fox ( Pteropus samoensis ) in Samoa and there are numerous Polynesian myths, sayings and legends that connect to the winged creatures. A Legend of the island of Savai'i , for example, tells how Nafanua , the goddess of war Samoa of bats was rescued when she was stranded on a desert island.

features

The soigaimiti or peʻa covers the body from the hip to the knees. The tatau process for this is extremely painful and is done by so-called tufuga ta tatau (master tattooists) who use hand-made tools: pieces of bone, turtle shells, and wood. The tufuga ta tatau are respected masters in Samoan society. According to Samoan custom, the Peʻa is only applied in the traditional way in connection with certain ceremonies and rituals and has a strong meaning for the tattooed person. The Tufuga Ta Tatau works with one or two assistants, often tattooists in training, who tighten the skin and wipe off the excess ink and support the tattoo master in his work. During the process, those to be tattooed lie on a mat on the floor while the tattooists sit next to them. The assistants are called solo . The Samoan word describes the activity of wiping blood from the skin. Family members of the tattooed person will often stay close at a respectful distance to give encouragement, sometimes by singing certain songs. The process can be completed in a week, but in some cases it can drag on for years.

The ink color is black. The tattoo starts on the back and ends on the belly button. The design is usually symmetrical with patterns mostly made up of straight lines and larger dark areas. There are similarities with decorations on craft items such as tapa cloth and Lapita ceramic.

Traditional Samoan pe'a, is an ordeal that is not undertaken lightly. The tattoo is a prerequisite for acquiring the title of Matai ; originally it was a very expensive procedure, as the tattoo master received up to 700 fine mats as payment. Often half a dozen boys were tattooed at the same time, with up to four tattoo masters employed. Not only the men received tattoos, but also the women, for whom the patterns were made much more filigree and the tattoo was not a ceremony as with the men.

Social relevance

Men with a pe'a are known as soga'imiti and are respected for their bravery. Men without tattoos are usually referred to as telefua or telenoa (literally: "naked"). Those who break off the ceremony because of the pain or who cannot pay the tattoo masters are called Peʻa mutu (literally: sign of shame). The traditional tattoo of women is called malu in Samoa . In society, tattoos are worn with pride and are considered to be a sign of cultural identity and manhood or femininity.

origin

In Samoa, Fiji is given as the origin of the tatau, while the residents of Fiji suspect the origin in Samoa and the Māori in New Zealand attribute the custom to the underworld.

In Samoan mythology, a story is told that traces the origin of tatau back to two twin sisters, Tilafaiga and Taema . According to legend, they swam from Fiji to Samoa with a basket full of tattoo tools. While they were swimming, they sang a song about the fact that only women are tattooed. But as they neared the village of Falealupo on the island of Savai'i, they discovered a special shell underwater, dived for it, and when they came back to the surface, their song had changed. The song was now so that only men get tattoos and not women. This song is known in Samoa as Pese o le Peʻa or Pese o le Tatau .

Back view of a Samoan with Peʻa , ca.1890 , Thomas Andrew .

The word tatau also has many different meanings in Samoa. Tā means "to hit" and in the process of tattooing the sounds of the wooden tools being hit. Tau means "to come to a goal" or "war", "battle". Tatau can also mean “the right” or “balance”. It is also a term for "wringing out" and, in the process of tattooing, wiping the ink from the skin. Tata mimics the regular beats that become the basis of a rhythm. For example, tātā le ukulele means 'play the ukulele !'.

Tools

The tools of the tufuga ta tatau are made of stone, bone, turtle shell and wood. These are sawn bone combs ( au ) attached to small pieces of tortoiseshell and connected with a wooden handle. There is also a hammer ( sausau ) with which the combs are driven into the skin; Coconut shells are used as ink containers ( ipuniu ). The Indian ink ("lama") is made from an infusion of burnt light walnut nuts; Pieces of tapa bark ( solo ) are used to wipe blood and clean the tools. The tools are traditionally stored in a cylindrical wooden container, the "tunuma", which is lined with bark fiber and the au is attached in such a way that the fragile combs are arranged towards the center of the cylinder. The sausau consist of a piece of hardwood that is measured to the length of a forearm and about the diameter of a thumb. The different sized au combs are made in a complex process in which pig tusks are prepared with the smallest razor-sharp pieces made from volcanic flint , chert and basalt . The smallest combs that are used to create dots ( tala ) are called "ʻau faʻatala" or "'au mono". Individual lines of different widths are attached with "ʻau sogi", while the surfaces are designed with "ʻau tapulu".

lama

The Indian ink, also called “kukui”, is made from the oily core of the light nuts (“tuitui” or “lama”). The core is burned and the black soot is mixed with water. Artificial ink is also used today.

Tufuga ta tatau

The prestigious role of tattoo masters ( tufuga ta tatau ) was passed on through hereditary titles within two Samoan clans: the Sa Su'a ( fa'amatai ) of Savai'i and the Sa Tulou'ena ( fa'amatai ) of Upolu . Previously, the tufuga ta tatau achieved high social status, wealth, and legendary prestige due to their crucial role in Samoa society. Samoan tufuga were also called to Tonga and Fiji to tattoo with leading families. Sua Sulu'ape Paulo II a well-known tufuga ta tatau was accompanied by the New Zealand photographer Mark Adams for over 30 years . His brother Su'a Suluape Petelo , who lives and works in Faleasi'u in Upolu, is one of the most influential master tattooists today. Tufuga ta tatau from the 'aiga families are selected when they are young and receive extensive training, initially as a solo and later as an assistant under the supervision of an older tufuga .

Traditional arts have been suppressed in Samoa since the arrival of English missionaries and Christianity in the 1830s. Nevertheless, the tradition also survived the colonial era and is still carried out according to traditional customs today. In other islands of Polynesia the tradition broke off in part and only through the influence of the tufuga of the Suʻa-Suluʻape family the tradition was revived in French Polynesia , Tonga, New Zealand, the Cook Islands and Hawaii , where a new generation of Pacific tattooists was born Re-learned techniques and ceremonies from Samoa.

In pop culture

One of the first documentaries of the Peʻa appears in the film Moana from 1926, filmed under Robert J. Flaherty in Safune on the island of Savaiʻi. The film shows the hero Moana doing the Pe'a procedure. In 2007 the New Zealand horror film The Tattooist Peʻa was the theme.

The 2016 Disney film Moana (Vaiana) also shows how a young man receives his first Peʻa.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has a Pe'a-style tattoo on his left arm. His grandfather, Peter Maivia , had a real Pe'a.

Non-Samoans and Pe'a

It is very rare for foreigners to receive a peʻa or malu. The Tongan nobility in the Tuʻi Kanokupolu dynasty before the colonial period practiced Peʻa tattooing. There are stories of how kings of Tonga, Tuʻi Tonga Fatafehi ​​Fakauakimanuka and King George Tupou I , traveled to Samoa to receive their peʻa from Samoan tufuga ta tatau . European sandpipers and runaway sailors were among the first non-Polynesians to receive pe'a in the 18th century. Among other things, the American Mickey Knight . During the colonial era, when Samoa was under German rule , several Europeans already underwent the Pe'a ritual, including the Englishmen Arthur Pink and Erich Schultz (the last German governor of Samoa), as well as other German colonial officials. More recently, many afakasi (half-Samoan) and other non-Samoans have performed soga'imiti , including Noel Messer, FuneFe'ai Carl Cooke, Rene Persoons and Tony Fomison (1939–1990), one of New Zealand's most influential painters (1979). Karina Persoons received a malu from tufuga Suʻa Sulu'ape Petelo.

Pese o le Tatau

It is known that the last verse was only written in the modern age, as the orthography does not match that of the first verse. Oral tradition says that it is a song from before colonization.

tufuga ta tatau (left) and tattoo assistant (right). c. 1895, Thomas Andrew

Samoan O le mafuaaga lenei ua iloa O le taaga o le tatau i Samoa O le malaga a teine ​​to'alua Na feausi mai Fiti le vasa loloa Na la aumai ai o le atoau ma sia la pese e tutumau Fai mai e tata o fafine Ae le tata o tane A o le ala ua tata ai tane Ina ua sese sia la pese Taunuu i gatai o Falealupo Ua vaaia loa o se faisua ua tele Totofu loa lava o fafine Ma ua sui ai sia la pese Fai mai e tata o tane Ae le tata o fafine Talofa i si tama ua taatia O le tufuga lea ua amatalia Talofa ua tagi aueue Ua oti'otisolo le au tapulutele Sole Sole, ai loto tele O le taaloga a tama tane E ui lava ina tiga tele Ae mulimuli ana ua a fefete O atu motu uma o le Pasefika Ua sili Samoa le ta'taua O le soga'imiti ua savalivali mai Ua fepulafi mai ana faaila Aso faaifo, faamulialiao Faaatualoa, selu faalaufao O le sigano faapea faaulutao Ua ovaola i le vasala

German transmission This is the well-known origin of tattooing in Samoa A journey of two virgins Who swam across the open sea from Fiji They brought tattoo tools And sang their immutable song That said women should be tattooed. But men shouldn't be tattooed. So the reason that men are tattooed today is The Confusion in the Song of the Virgins When they got to the coast of Falealupo They saw a giant clam When the virgins were diving their song got twisted And it said that the men should be tattooed And not the women Pity for the boy who is lying there now While the tufuga begins Oh woe, he screams loudly When the tattoo tools cut all over the place Young comrade, young comrade, be brave That is the lot of the male heirs Despite the severe pain After that, you become with pride burst Of all the countries of the Pacific, Samoa is the most famous The Sogaimiti comes up to you. His Fa'aila shimmers curved lines, motifs like Ali like centipedes , crests like wild bananas like Sigano and spearheads The largest in the whole world.

literature

• Margot McLean, Amanda D'Souza: Life-threatening cellulitis after traditional Samoan tattooing . In: Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health . tape 35 , no. 1 , 2011, ISSN  1753-6405 , p. 27-29 , doi : 10.1111 / j.1753-6405.2010.00658.x , PMID 21299697 .

Web links

Commons : Tattoos in Polynesia  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Albert Wendt: Tatauing the Post-Colonial Body Originally published in Span 42–43 (April – October 1996): 15–29.
• Tatau song with guitar during female malu tattoo session , Youtube

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Samoan tatau (tattooing) - Collections Online - Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa . Collections.tepapa.govt.nz. Retrieved August 19, 2013.
2. ↑ Rob Wilson Vilsoni Here Niko: Inside out: literature, cultural politics, and identity in the new Pacific , S. 402nd
3. ↑ Jeffrey Geiger: Facing the Pacific: Polynesia and the US imperial imagination , p. 155.
4. ↑ Pe'a tattooing - Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand . Teara.govt.nz. September 21, 2012. Retrieved August 19, 2013.
5. ↑ Roger Neich Mick Prendergrast: Pacific Tapa . University of Hawaii Press, 2004, ISBN 0-8248-2929-8 , p. 9 (Accessed April 25, 2010).
6. ↑ Tattoos . Samoa. Retrieved August 19, 2013.
7. ↑ Margo DeMello: Encyclopedia of body adornment, Part 46 , p 213th
8. ↑ Juniper Ellis: Tattooing the world: Pacific designs in print & skin , p. 25.
9. ^ Philip Culbertson, Margaret Nelson Agee, Cabrini ʻOfa Makasiale: Penina uliuli: Contemporary challenges in mental health for Pacific peoples , p. 32.
10. ↑ Traditional Samoan tattoos . Retrieved January 27, 2017.
11. ^ Te Rangi Hīroa: Samoan Material Culture , p. 637.
12. ↑ Albert Wendt - Tatauing the Post - Colonial Body . Nzepc.auckland.ac.nz. Retrieved August 19, 2013.
13. ↑ Margo DeMello: Encyclopedia of body adornment , S. 234th
14. ↑ Juniper Ellis: Tattooing the world: Pacific Designs in Print and Skin , p. 23.
15. ^ Sean Mallon: Samoan Art and Artists , p. 111.
16. ↑ Arnold Safroni-Middleton : Sailor and Beachcomber 1915th
17. ^ Misa Telefoni Retzlaff: An Enduring Legacy - The German Influence in Samoan Culture and History .
18. ↑ Amy Skrine: Mark Adams' Pe'a Exhibition and tattoo . In: Graduate Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies . 4, No. 2, September, pp. 95-98.
19. ↑ This is the known origin / Of the tattooing of the tatau in Samoa / A journey by two maidens / Who swam from Fiji across the open sea / They brought the tattooing kit / And recited their unchanging chant / That said women were to be tattooed / But men were not to be tattooed / Thus the reason why men are now tattooed / Is because of the confusion of the maidens' chant / Arriving at the coast of / Falealupo / They spotted a giant clam / As the maidens dived / Their chant was reversed / To say that men were to be tattooed / And not women / Pity the youth now lying / While the tufuga starts / Alas he is crying loudly / As the tattooing tool cuts all over / Young fellow, young fellow, be brave / This is the sport of male heirs / Despite the enormous pain / Afterwards you will swell with pride /
    Of all the countries in the Pacific / Samoa is the most famous / The sogaimiti walking towards you / With his fa'aila glistening / Curved lines, motifs like ali / Like centipedes, combs like wild bananas / Like sigano and spearheads / The greatest in the whole world!