Polynesian Tattoos Essay

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History is about pondering over past events and how they identify with individuals. The investigation of recorded events educates us of the things that helped shape the world as we know it today. While most keep on evolving the way our backgrounds did, some keep on carrying on the customs of the old world. One of the strictest cultures about traditions is the Polynesian, Polynesian tattoos are one of those conventions that have withstood the test of time and kept up their legacy. In this paper I will cover the recorded setting of Polynesian tattoos and the events proceeding on the planet around then. On the principle of mythology, people took in the craft of tattooing from the 2 children of the Lord of Creation Ta'aroa. Tattooing was worked by high prepared shamans (tahua) in the religious service, who was a master in the implications of the tattoo and sources of the Samoan tatau is accepted to have been familiar with the Samoa islands by two Fiji ladies, who came shoreward with the apparatuses and learning of tattooing. The Samoans called it ‘Tatau (tattoo); and to legends, it was brought to Samoa by two sisters. The story is beautifully preserved in the traditional, one of the famous chant in the tradition: O le Vi’i o le Tatau Samoa. This is what we know of how the art of tattoo came to Samoa Two women (sisters) swam across the deep ocean from Fiti They carried a basket with them (filled with tatau equipment) and repeatedly chanted the song: ‘Only women receive tattoos, not men’ The reason men receive tattoos today is that their song was sung incorrectly They arrived to the coast of Falealupo and encountered a huge faisua They dove into the water for it and when they surfaced again they began singing that it is men who receive tattoos and not women ("The Truth about the Samoan Tattoo (Tatau)"). The story

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