The art of body tattooing is native to a lot of ancient cultures in Asia, Africa and Southern America. These cultures have made use of tattoos for various purposes and were used to mark the dead in ancient civilizations like the Egyptian civilization. Over time, more modern designs have appeared and while some are mere modifications of the old ones, there are those which are fresh and have no ties to the ancient tattoo designs. However, some ancient designs are gradually coming back to the mainstream and some of these are Samoan tattoos.

Samoan Tattoo History

Although the art of tattooing itself can be traced to other civilizations, the word tattoo is purely Samoan and was incorporated into the English vocabulary. It is a derivation of the Samoan word tautu. The legend states that the art of tattooing was introduced to the Samoan people by two women from Fiji over 2000 years ago and has become a part of the Samoan culture.

In the Samoan culture, the tattooing of both men and women is a common practice even though the women have slightly lighter tattoos without the dark areas of ink. The elaborateness of the tattoo was often seen as reminiscent of a person’s status in the Samoan society and was a very important part of the coming of age ritual for the male.

Characteristics

One characteristic of Samoan tattoos is that they are usually very large and tend to cover huge areas of the body like the back and go all the way down the thighs to the front knees. They also extend to the arms. But this is only the case in tattoos for men as tattoos for women are not that far-reaching.

The tattoos come in various patterns and are usually in lines. These lines could be thick or thin and are used to form a variety of designs. The reason for the lines is that traditionally, Samoan tattoos were made using different sizes of combs to fill in the ink. This accounted for the lines in the tattoo design. The thickness of the tattoo depended on if they were going unto a male or a female. The females did not have tattoos that were thick.

Lines are not the only designs used in Samoan tattoos and designs usually feature dots, curves, grids, plus signs and other geometric designs. Each of these designs is used in specific parts of the body and there are those reserved for the women and for the men while others are used to denote status.

Thing to Consider

Despite modern techniques, Samoan tattoos are still a very painful experience because of the extensiveness of the tattoo and the details involved. Therefore if you decide to get one, you need to be prepared for the pain.

Secondly, each pattern and design has a meaning or is associated with a form of symbolism. For instance, the kava bowl represents hospitality and the Samoan house indicates friendship. So it is important to know what each symbol or pattern means before you have it tattooed unto your body.

If you are planning to get a tattoo and are searching for something unique with deep cultural meaning, a Samoan tattoo might be the way to go.