Ok, so one thing we
never thought we'd do, was to go to a tattoo festival! But, we did! And, we enjoyed it. It was actually quite fascinating to learn about the tattoo traditions of the French Polynesian, Ma'ohi people. The traditions varied from archipelago to archipelago in the French Poly, but were very similar. Tattooing was considered sacred in their culture, and was performed in a ceremony with drums and dancing. The person being tattooed had to follow certain rituals before and after the tattoo. They started tattooing at about age 12 and continued to get tattoos with each accomplishment in their life. Each tattoo was specially designed to have very specific meanings. The more accomplishments, the more tattoos, so the more prestige. People with no tattoos were looked down upon. Tattoos symbolized courage, power, and ranking in society, with the chief having the most tattoos.
Today, they use many of the same traditional designs, along with more contemporary designs, but each design still means something. The most common include the tiki (sacred statues for protection), sharks (power and protection from enemies), turtles (longevity and fertility), gecko (supernatural powers) and shells (wealth).
If you want a tattoo, you start by meeting with a tattoo artist and tell him why you want a tattoo and what you want it to mean in your life. Then he will stencil a tattoo. If you like it, he will then do the tattoo. A friend's son had a tattoo done here and it took a total of about 12 hours. During the festival, there were about 30 booths were you could watch the tattoo artists at work. It looked so painful! But, some of the designs were quite nice; others were questionable to me. And, part of the fun was seeing the tattoo artists themselves because they had the most tattoos. One even had his whole head tattooed!
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They had one large booth set up to display the traditional method of tattooing with a bamboo stick that was pounded into the skin. Most countries have prohibited the traditional method, in lieu of the instruments that are used for tattooing today. That person had to be on major pain meds!
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And, of course if there is a festival, there is music and dancing! There was a Marquesan Dance Group performing, which was so appropriate because they had tons of tattoos.
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More Later - maybe even a tattoo? G&T