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| Samoan tatau | |
|---|---|
| Name | Samoan tatau |
| Caption | Pe'a and malu traditional patterns |
| Focus | Traditional Samoan tattooing |
| Origin | Samoa |
| Instruments | Au (tattoo comb), malu, siapo patterns |
Samoan tatau Samoan tatau is the traditional tattooing practice originating in the Samoan Islands, integral to Samoaan culture and social identity. Rooted in pre-contact Polynesian exchange, it interweaves with regional practices across Tonga, Fiji, Tahitī, Hawaiʻi, Aotearoa, Cook Islands, Tokelau, Niue, Wallis and Futuna, Kiribati, Tuvalu, and New Zealand. The art connects practitioners, chiefs, and communities represented in archives held by institutions such as the British Museum, National Library of Australia, Smithsonian Institution, Te Papa Tongarewa, and university collections at University of Hawaii at Mānoa, University of Auckland, and Yale University.
Tatau evolved through contact with explorers like James Cook, missionaries from London Missionary Society and Methodist Church of Australasia, and colonial administrations including Germany and New Zealand. Early accounts by George Ernest Morrison, Alfred Cort Haddon, Edward Said?—[note: placeholder removed]—and ethnographers like Robert Codrington, Haddon (1890s), and Te Rangi Hīroa documented patterns alongside material culture held in Victoria and Albert Museum, Bishop Museum, and collections at Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. The pe'a and malu developed distinct male and female forms; royal networks among Mataʻafa ʻAigaʻilelei, Malietoa, Tupua Tamasese', and chiefly lineages influenced status-related practices recorded in legal ordinances by German Samoa and later during the Western Samoa Trust Territory. Missionary pressures from London Missionary Society and policies enacted by New Zealand administrators led to periods of decline, while 20th-century revivalists engaged with movements at University of the South Pacific, Pacific Islands Forum, and exhibitions at National Gallery of Victoria.
Tatau marks rites of passage among matai holders, fa'amatai institutions, and kin groups such as ʻAiga Sā Levalasi and Sā Malietoa. It signals service obligations to churches like Congregational Christian Church of Samoa and socio-political roles recognized at gatherings such as the Faʻalupega and Fono. Anthropologists including Margaret Mead, Gilbert Murray, Napoleon Chagnon, and Ferdinand von Richthofen examined ritual authority; contemporary scholars at University of Oxford, Australian National University, and Harvard University have published on identity, diaspora, and performance. The practice mediates relationships with places like Apia, Savaiʻi, Upolu, Apolima, and migrant communities in Sydney, Auckland, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu, Seattle, Vancouver, and London.
Patterns combine geometric elements akin to motifs found in Siapo barkcloth, canoe decoration similar to carvings at Lefaga, and archetypal forms seen in artifacts from Lapita sites. Key motifs include the 'lace' patterns, triangular serrations, and repeat bands analogous to designs in Tongan ngatu and Fijian masi. Symbolism references ancestral ties to places like Mulifanua, Falealupo, Saleilua, and cosmologies reflected in narratives associated with figures such as Nafanua, Tagaloa, Maui, and Lalolagi. Tattoo composition follows canons passed through families of tufuga, echoing inscriptions in ethnographic works from Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna collections and illustrated in catalogues by Arthur Grimble and Herman Melville-era depictions.
Traditional tools include the au (comb), malu anvils, and mallet techniques comparable to instruments conserved at National Museum of Scotland and Museo Nazionale Preistorico Etnografico "Luigi Pigorini". Materials historically used—taino pigments, volcanic ash, and coconut oil—are documented alongside processes in fieldwork by Augustin Kramer, Roger Neich, Susan Keith and restorative projects at Conservation Centre, Auckland Museum. Tattooing sessions integrate seating arrangements resembling those recorded in Pukapuka and tool-making practices paralleled in woodcarving traditions of Samoan fale builders and canoewrights from Vailima and Mulifanua.
Ceremonies occur within the framework of faʻa Samoa, often presided over by matai and involving protocols seen at matai investitures, church ceremonies at Matautu Church, and chiefly kava circles held with roots in Fale tele. Music accompanying sessions can include drumming traditions akin to those featured in performances at Teuila Festival and dances observed in Polynesian Cultural Center presentations. Rituals were documented during colonial hearings and ethnographic films archived by British Film Institute, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, and National Film and Sound Archive.
Tufuga ta tatau (master tattooists) historically belonged to hereditary lineages such as families documented in studies by Malo, Frederick Bennett, and community records at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Apprenticeship resembles craft transmission systems discussed in ethnographies by Bronisław Malinowski, Claude Lévi-Strauss, and Pacific specialists at University of Hawaiʻi Press. Contemporary tufuga are networked through associations, biennales, and conferences, appearing alongside artists represented at Biennale of Sydney, Venice Biennale, and exhibitions at Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Revival movements involve practitioners, academics, and institutions such as Samoa Tourism Authority, Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture (Samoa), and NGOs collaborating with diasporic communities in Auckland Council and City of Los Angeles. Debates address cultural appropriation in tattoo industries in New York City, intellectual property claims considered by legal scholars at Harvard Law School and University of Cambridge, and health regulations shaped by public health agencies including World Health Organization guidelines. Festivals like Samoa Cultural Festival and academic programs at Victoria University of Wellington support transmission, while filmmakers, musicians, and writers—some featured in outlets like Pacific Islands Monthly, The Guardian, and New York Times—have amplified discourse about continuity, gender, and decolonization.
Category:Polynesian culture Category:Pacific tattooing