August 23, 2010
Why Maoris Might Not Like Your New Maori Tattoo Design
Important Maori Tattoo Design Concepts
maori tribal tattoos click here
Would you like to avoid the most common mistakes when getting a maori tattoo designs? Well then read this article to discover the most common mistakes made by people today
You will find it helpful when going ahead and eventually deciding on what traditional maori tattoo designs you want to get
There are so many mistakes made by people when selecting traditional maori tattoo art that i see all the time, you will be able to avoid these common mistakes by following these simple tips
Right Now with the ever increasing popularity of tattoo art amongst all cultures through our increasing multi cultural society traditional maori tattoo art seem to be the choice of tattoo
What you will find is that maori tattoo designs have be come so popular that they are often the first choice of tattoo art when people want to get a tattoo
A lot of modern tattoo artists and tattoo enthusiasts looking to for tattoo designs will often page through or browse through traditional tribal tattoos with the hope of coming up with their own designs.This can lead to artistic flair, but not so when choosing traditional maori tattoo designs .
To understand traditional maori tattoo designs you need to understand maori tattoo designs terminology.Just like in every field on life there are terms associated with the way people do things, so it is with Maori Tattoo Art. For the family identification part of the maori culture, those that form part of the ta moko family group are known as whakapapa
The reason identification through tattoos was important for the maori was that they were able to distinguish each other on the battle fields by having a look at the tattoos on their body, this also allowed them to know their family history if they moved places over centuries
These maori tattoos are still used by Some maori chiefs to recall their history and ancestory Amongst the maori of today live a few maori chiefs or maori leaders that would actually be able to tell you which tribe a certain maori tattoo belongs too, when it was done and the history of that tribe There are maori walking around right now in new zealand that have maori tribal tattoos that date back 2,000 years, if one of these chiefs looked at these designs, they would be able to tell how far back they go and yes some of these designs go back over 2,000 years What might not be apparent at first sight to you or i when looking at traditional maori tattoo designs is that each one is an actual story, and each story tells a tale of where this tribe goes back to, their beliefs, spirituality and more.
So you have learnt about the “ta” form of the maori language now its time to introduce the “moko” part that is the important part as it involves the chiseling of the tattoo into the skin
So you think that getting a tattoo by today’s standards is painful, well traditionally the maori made deep cuts into the skin using brutal tools and yes also the bones of albatrosses, for the maori to be able to distinguish themselves from the other tribes they used the color of the ink to tell the family history and the patterns on the skin would then allow someone to interpret the family history of these patterns So lets say you were an elder in a maori circle someone who knew a lot about maori history if, if some one brought you a design, you would be able to by looking at the design the moko and the maori tribal tattoo pattern be able to trace their family history, much like someone using computers to find out their ancestry, they would be able to do the sameMost people think that the maori tattoo designs are limited to the face only though this is not true, it was only done on certain peoples faces within the maori tribes, these people were significant within their maori circles.
Click here for the best Maori Tribal Tattoos
It is now common for westerners to have maori tattoo designs, this can be seen as a way of promoting the maori culture, however do you know that is a form of stealing maori tradition and culture?One should never just take words, images or symbols from the maoritanga or Maori culture with out knowing what they are doing, as to the Maori this is seen as an insult, can you imagine walking around with some maoris family history? One thing not to do is to go out into the world of maori tattoo designs and just start copying any design, this could lead to a situation of stealing some maoris family tree
Im going to let you in on something, this is going to let you know what maoris think about the western world when they steal their tattoo designs and especially their maori tattoo designs.
The word “pakeha” might not mean anything to you as a westerner however in the maoris language it is associated with negativity, those that never asking for anything and simply take without asking! Wouldn’t you say that this sounds more like stealing someones culture? Well this is what the maori think of other people and especially the western world for taking their tattoos, they feel that not only did they loose their land but also now they are loosing their culture of tattoo designs
One thing that is annoying many traditional maoris as mentioned is the stealing of these tattoo designs and the reason that it is annoying them, is the fact that they foresee a day when the maori will have lost everything, they believe they have lost their land, now they are loosing something that makes the maori for who they are today, and that is the maori through their tattoo designs, they feel that this is the last thing to go in terms of spirituality before they have lost all to the west, which is quite sad as all cultures on earth are only bound as a culture through their individual rituals and unique flair such as tattoos in the maoris case.
So what does this mean for you when getting a moari tattoo?
The simplest thing you can do is not to go out and copy the first maori tattoo design that you see on a maori in new zealand for starters, you would be surprised how many people have done this!
The quickest way to get a traditional maori tattoo design would be to contact someone in new zealand who is in charge of a tribe or a tribal tattoo artist and ask if the design that you are looking at is not someones design already, though this might seem dumb as mentioned we have to be sensitive to a culture that has shrunk over the last 200 years, with the internet this could be done in a matter of hours Maoris are really only annoyed when you just take, they might even grant you a special maori tattoo for asking, do you want to know how many people would actually ask for a design? Not many! That’s right if you ask you will more likely be given the go ahead for a special maori tattoo design, this way it will be even more unique and you will have a one of a kind maori tattoo design that you can be proud of
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