Pe'a
Encyclopedia
Tattoo
A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
of Samoa
Samoa
Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
, which was originally called the malofie, a term used in the Samoan language
Samoan language
Samoan Samoan Samoan (Gagana Sāmoa, is the language of the Samoan Islands, comprising the independent country of Samoa and the United States territory of American Samoa. It is an official language—alongside English—in both jurisdictions. Samoan, a Polynesian language, is the first language for most...
chiefly vocabulary and 'respect' register (gagana fa'aaloalo).
Description
The pe'a covers the body from waist to knees. The word tattoo in the English language is believed to have originated from the Polynesian word tatau.The tatau process for the pe'a is extremely painful, and undertaken by tufuga ta tatau (master tattooists), using handmade tools of bone, tusks, turtle shell and wood. The tufuga ta tatau are revered masters in Samoan society. In Samoan custom, a pe'a is only done the traditional way, with aspects of cultural ceremony and ritual, and not with European tools or needles. The tufuga ta tatau works with one or two assistants, often apprentice tattooists, who stretch the skin and wipe the excess ink and generally support the tattooist in their work. The process takes place with the subject lying on mats on the floor with the tattooist and assistants beside them. The assistants to the tattooists are referred to as the solo, a Samoan word describing the act of wiping the blood off the skin. Family members of the person getting the tattoo are often in attendance at a respectful distance to provide words of encouragement, sometimes through song. The pe'a can take less than a week to complete or in some cases, years.
The ink colour is black. The tattoo starts on the back and finishes on the belly button. Overall, the design is symmetrical with a pattern consisting mainly of straight lines and larger blocks of dark cover, usually around the thighs. Some art experts have made a comparison between the distinctive Samoan tattoo patterns to other artforms including designs on tapa cloth
Tapa cloth
Tapa cloth is a bark cloth made in the islands of the Pacific Ocean, primarily in Tonga, Samoa and Fiji, but as far afield as Niue, Cook Islands, Futuna, Solomon Islands, Java, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Hawaii...
and Lapita
Lapita
Lapita is a term applied to an ancient Pacific Ocean archaeological culture which is believed by many archaeologists to be the common ancestor of several cultures in Polynesia, Micronesia, and some coastal areas of Melanesia...
pottery.
Societal Significance
Samoan males with a pe'a are called soga'imiti and are respected for their courage. Untattooed Samoan males are colloquially referred to as telefua or telenoa, literally "naked." Those who begin the tattooing ordeal but do not complete it due to the pain, or more rarely the inability to adequately pay the tattooist, are called pe'a mutu, a mark of shame. The traditional female tattoo in Samoa is the maluMalu
Malu can refer to:* Malu, a Samoan tattoo* Malu, Nepal* Malu, Giurgiu, a commune in Giurgiu County, Romania* Malu, a village in Bârla Commune, Argeş County, Romania* Malu, a village in Godeni Commune, Argeş County, Romania...
. In Samoan society, the pe'a and the malu are viewed with cultural pride and identity as well as a hallmark of manhood and womanhood.
Tatau is an ancient Polynesian
Polynesian culture
Polynesian culture refers to the indigenous peoples' culture of Polynesia who share common traits in language, customs and society. Chronologically, the development of Polynesian culture can be divided into four different historical eras:...
artform which is associated with the rites of passage for men. Pe'a is also the Samoan word for the flying fox
Samoa Flying-fox
The Samoa Flying Fox or Samoan Flying Fox is a species of megabat in the Pteropodidae family. It is found in American Samoa, Fiji, and Samoa. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests...
(fruit bat, Pteropus samoensis ), and there are many Polynesian myths, proverbs
Samoan proverbs
Samoan proverbs form an important part of the traditions and culture of Samoa where oratory, poetry, metaphors and subtelty in language art forms are held in high esteem as a form of communication in ceremony and ritual of fa'a Samoa...
and legends
Samoan mythology
Samoan mythology tell stories of many different gods. There were gods of the forest, the seas, rain, harvest, villages and war. There were two types of gods, atua who had non-human origins and aitu who were of human origin. Tagaloa was a supreme god who made the islands and the people. Mafui'e was...
associated with this winged creature. One legend from the island of Savai'i
Savai'i
Savaii is the largest and highest island in Samoa and the Samoa Islands chain. It is also the biggest landmass in Polynesia outside Hawaii and New Zealand. The island of Savai'i is also referred to by Samoans as Salafai, a classical Samoan term used in oratory and prose...
is about Nafanua
Nafanua
Nafanua is the name of the revered Goddess of War in Samoa and a deity in Polynesian Mythology.According to Samoan mythology, Nafanua was the daughter of Saveasi'uleo, the God of Pulotu, Samoa's spirit world. In one legend, Nafanua's mother was Tilafaiga the sister of Taema.-Background:Nafanua is a...
, Samoa's goddess of war, rescued by flying foxes when she was stranded on an inhospitable island.
Origins
In Polynesia, the origins of tattoo is varied. Samoans and TongaTonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
credit Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
as the source of the tatau, the Fijians credit the Samoans, and the Māori of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
credit the underworld.
In Samoan mythology
Samoan mythology
Samoan mythology tell stories of many different gods. There were gods of the forest, the seas, rain, harvest, villages and war. There were two types of gods, atua who had non-human origins and aitu who were of human origin. Tagaloa was a supreme god who made the islands and the people. Mafui'e was...
the origin of the tatau in Samoa is told in a myth about twin sisters Tilafaiga
Tilafaiga
According to a legend in Samoan mythology Tilafaiga was one of the siamese twin sisters who brought the art of tatau to Samoa from Fiti...
and Taema
Taema
Taema is the name of a female figure referred to in different legends in Samoan mythology.-Different Legends:*One well known legend relates that Taema and her sister Tila faiga were the goddesses of tattooers. The sisters brought the art of tattooing to Samoa from Fiti. As they swam, the sisters...
who swam from Fiji to Samoa with a basket of tattoo tools. As they swam they sang a song which said only women get tattooed. But as they neared the village of Falealupo
Falealupo
Falealupo is a village in Samoa situated at the west end of Savai'i island from the dateline. The village has two main settlements, Falealupo-Uta, situated inland by the main island highway and Falealupo-Tai, situated by the sea...
on the island of Savai'i, they saw a clam
Clam
The word "clam" can be applied to freshwater mussels, and other freshwater bivalves, as well as marine bivalves.In the United States, "clam" can be used in several different ways: one, as a general term covering all bivalve molluscs...
underwater and dived down to get it. When they emerged, their song had changed, the lyrics now saying that only men get the tattoo and not women. This song is known in Samoa as the Pese o le Pe'a or Pese o le Tatau.
The word tatau has many meanings in Samoa. Tā means to strike, and in the case of tattooing, the tap tap sound of the tattooist's wooden tools. Tau means to reach an end, a conclusion, as well as war or battle. Tatau also means rightness or balance. It also means to wring moisture from something, like wet cloth, or in the case of the pe'a process, the ink from the skin. Tata means to strike repeatedly or perform a rhythm. For example, tātā le ukulele means 'play the ukulele.'
Implements
The tools of the tufuga ta tatau comprise a set of serrated bone combs (au), which were lashed to small tortoise shellTortoiseshell material
Tortoiseshell or tortoise shell is a material produced mainly from the shell of the hawksbill turtle, an endangered species. It was widely used in the 1960s and 1970s in the manufacture of items such as combs, sunglasses, guitar picks and knitting needles...
fragments which were in turn lashed to a short wooden handle; a tapping mallet (sausau) for driving the combs into the skin; coconut shell cups ("ipuniu") to mix and store the tattooing ink ("lama") made from burnt candlenut
Candlenut
Aleurites moluccana, the Candlenut, is a flowering tree in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, also known as Candleberry, Indian walnut, Kemiri, Varnish tree, Nuez de la India, Buah keras or Kukui nut tree....
soot; and lengths of tapa cloth
Tapa cloth
Tapa cloth is a bark cloth made in the islands of the Pacific Ocean, primarily in Tonga, Samoa and Fiji, but as far afield as Niue, Cook Islands, Futuna, Solomon Islands, Java, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Hawaii...
("solo") used to wipe blood and clean tools. The tools are traditionally stored in a cylindrical wooden container called "tunuma" which are lined with tapa cloth
Tapa cloth
Tapa cloth is a bark cloth made in the islands of the Pacific Ocean, primarily in Tonga, Samoa and Fiji, but as far afield as Niue, Cook Islands, Futuna, Solomon Islands, Java, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Hawaii...
and designed to hold the 'au vertically with the delicate combs facing the center of the cylinder to prevent damage. The "sausau" mallet was shaped from a length of hardwood approximately as long as the forearm and about the diameter of the thumb. Various sizes of "au" combs were painstakingly fashioned by filing sections of boar tusk with tiny abrasive files knapped from volcanic flint
Flint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
, chert
Chert
Chert is a fine-grained silica-rich microcrystalline, cryptocrystalline or microfibrous sedimentary rock that may contain small fossils. It varies greatly in color , but most often manifests as gray, brown, grayish brown and light green to rusty red; its color is an expression of trace elements...
, and/or basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
rock. The smallest combs, used to make dots ("tala"), are aptly called 'au fa'atala, or 'au mono. Single lines of varying widths were tapped with various sizes of 'au sogi, while the solid blocks of tattooing were accomplished with the 'au tapulu.
Tattooing Guild
The prestigious role of master tattooist (tufuga ta tatau) has been maintained through hereditary titles within two Samoan clans, the Sa Su'a (mataiFa'amatai
Fa'amatai is the chiefly system of Samoa, central to the organization of Samoan society.It is the traditional indigenous form of governance in the Samoa Islands, comprising American Samoa and the Independent State of Samoa...
) family from Upolu
Upolu
Upolu is an island in Samoa, formed by a massive basaltic shield volcano which rises from the seafloor of the western Pacific Ocean. The island is long, in area, and is the second largest in geographic area as well as the most populated of the Samoan Islands. Upolu is situated to the east of...
and the Sa Tulou'ena (matai
Fa'amatai
Fa'amatai is the chiefly system of Samoa, central to the organization of Samoan society.It is the traditional indigenous form of governance in the Samoa Islands, comprising American Samoa and the Independent State of Samoa...
) family of Savai'i
Savai'i
Savaii is the largest and highest island in Samoa and the Samoa Islands chain. It is also the biggest landmass in Polynesia outside Hawaii and New Zealand. The island of Savai'i is also referred to by Samoans as Salafai, a classical Samoan term used in oratory and prose...
. In ancient times the tufuga ta tatau were elevated to high social status, wealth, and legendary prestige due to their crucial roles in Samoan society. It is known that Samoan tufuga also performed tattooing for Tongan
Tongan
Tongan can refer to:*Tongan people, a person from Tonga*Tongan language*Tong'an District, district in Xiamen, Fujian, China...
and Fijian
Fijian
Fijian may refer to:* Something of, from, or related to the country of Fiji* The Fijian people, persons from Fiji, or of Fijian descent. For more information about the Fijian people, see:** Demographics of Fiji** Culture of Fiji* The Fijian language...
paramount chiefly families. The late Sua Sulu'ape Paulo II
Sua Sulu'ape Paulo II
Sua Sulu'ape Paulo II was a Samoan tattooist, tufuga ta tatau , in New Zealand.Suluape was from the Su'a family of Lefaga, a family well known as tufuga ta tatau in Samoa...
was a well known tufuga ta tatau whose life and work features in the photography of New Zealander Mark Adams. His brother Su'a Suluape Petelo who lives and carries out Samoan tattooing at Faleasi'u
Faleasiu
Faleasi'u is one of the largest village settlements on the island of Upolu in Samoa. It is located on the northwestern coast of the island.Faleasi'u is part of A'ana Alofi I Electoral Constituency which forms the larger political district of A'ana.Faleasi'u consists of five sub-villages pito nu'u:...
village in Upolu
Upolu
Upolu is an island in Samoa, formed by a massive basaltic shield volcano which rises from the seafloor of the western Pacific Ocean. The island is long, in area, and is the second largest in geographic area as well as the most populated of the Samoan Islands. Upolu is situated to the east of...
, is one of the most respected master tattooists today. Tufuga ta tatau from these aiga (families), were designated in their youth and underwent extensive apprenticeships in the role of solo and tattooist assistants for many years, under their elder tufuga.
The traditional art of tattoo in Samoa was suppressed with the arrival of English missionaries and Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
in the 1830s. However, it was perpetuated throughout the colonial era and was continually practiced in its intact form into the modern age. This was not the case, however, in the other Polynesia
Polynesia
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...
n islands, and the master tattooists of the Su'a Sulu'ape family have been instrumental in the revival of traditional tattooing in French Polynesia
French Polynesia
French Polynesia is an overseas country of the French Republic . It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...
, Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, the Cook Islands
Cook Islands
The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...
, and Hawai'i, where a new generation of Pacific tattooists have learned the Samoan techniques and protocols.
Media
An early documentation of the pe'a on film is seen in MoanaMoana
Moana is a documentary film, the first docufiction in the history of cinema, directed by Robert J. Flaherty, the creator of Nanook of the North . Moana was filmed in Samoa in the villages of Safune on the island of Savai'i...
(1926), directed by American Robert J. Flaherty
Robert J. Flaherty
Robert Joseph Flaherty, F.R.G.S. was an American filmmaker who directed and produced the first commercially successful feature length documentary film, Nanook of the North...
and filmed in Safune
Safune
Safune is a traditional village district on the central north coast of Savai'i island in Samoa. It lies within the electoral constituency of Gaga'ifomauga. Safune is the birthplace of Mau leader Olaf Frederick Nelson and the filming location of Moana , one of the first documentaries made in the world...
on the island of Savai'i
Savai'i
Savaii is the largest and highest island in Samoa and the Samoa Islands chain. It is also the biggest landmass in Polynesia outside Hawaii and New Zealand. The island of Savai'i is also referred to by Samoans as Salafai, a classical Samoan term used in oratory and prose...
. The film shows the young hero Moana undergoing a tattoo for his pe'a. The tufuga ta tatau in the film was from Asau. The word moana means 'ocean' in many Polynesian languages
Polynesian languages
The Polynesian languages are a language family spoken in the region known as Polynesia. They are classified as part of the Austronesian family, belonging to the Oceanic branch of that family. They fall into two branches: Tongic and Nuclear Polynesian. Polynesians share many cultural traits...
. The film was the first documentary ever made in the world. The pe'a also figures centrally in the 2007 film The Tattooist
The Tattooist
The Tattooist is a 2007 New Zealand film directed by Peter Burger and starring American actor Jason Behr and New Zealand actors Nathaniel Lees, Michael Hurst and Robbie Magasiva among others...
, as well as in documentaries such as "Tatau: What One Must Do" and "Tattoo: Pigments of Imagination."
Non-Samoans and the Pe'a
It is extremely rare for non-Samoans to receive the pe'a or the malu. Tongan nobility of the Tu'i KanokupoluTu'i Kanokupolu
The Ha'a Tu'i Kanokupolu is the most junior of the Ha'a Tu'i in Tonga. They are generally refer to as the Kau Halalalo The Ha'a Tu'i Tonga, the most senior and Sacred Ha'a Tu'i in Tonga are generally refer to as the Kauhala'uta, The inland side of the roads...
dynasty established the practice of pe'a tattooing among Tongan aristocracy in the pre-contact era. There are stories of Tongan royalty, Tu'i Tonga
Tu'i Tonga
The Tui Tonga is a line of Tongan kings, which originated in the 10th century with the mythical Ahoeitu; withdrew from political power in the 15th century by yielding to the Tui Haatakalaua; and died out with Laufilitonga in 1865...
Fatafehi Fakauakimanuka and King George Tupou I of Tonga
George Tupou I of Tonga
George Tupou I, King of Tonga , originally known as Tāufaāhau I with some extra names: Tupou Maeakafaua Ngininginiofolanga , but took the name Siaosi when baptised in 1831...
, traveling to Samoa to undergo the ritual under Samoan tufuga ta tatau. European beachcombers and runaway sailors were the first non-Polynesians to receive the pe'a during the early 1800s; among the earliest Europeans to receive the pe'a was an American named Mickey Knight, as well as a handful of European convicts of ill-repute. During the colonial era when Samoa
Samoa
Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
fell under German rule, several Europeans underwent the pe'a ritual, including Englishman
Englishman
Englishman may refer to:*English people*Grey Partridge*Jason Englishman, Canadian rock music singer and guitarist*Jenny-Bea Englishman, real name of the Canadien singer Esthero*Erald Briscoe, reggae musician who records under the name Englishman...
Arthur Pink, Erich Schultz (the last German governor of Samoa), and a number of German colonial officials. In more recent times other non-Samoan men have become soga'imiti, including Noel Messer, Rene Persoons and artist Tony Fomison
Tony Fomison
Tony Fomison was a notable artist in New Zealand. He was an important post-war visual artist in the country and influenced New Zealand art by incorporating elements of narrative and myth into contemporary art....
, (1939–1990), one of New Zealand's foremost painters, who received a pe'a in 1979. It is also known that several women, such as Karina Persoons, received a pe'a from tufuga Su'a Sulu'ape Petelo.
Lyrics Pese o le Tatau song
It is known that the last verse was written in modern times, as it does not match the orthography of the first verses. Oral tradition maintains that this song is derived from a pre-colonial chant.Samoan language
Samoan language
Samoan Samoan Samoan (Gagana Sāmoa, is the language of the Samoan Islands, comprising the independent country of Samoa and the United States territory of American Samoa. It is an official language—alongside English—in both jurisdictions. Samoan, a Polynesian language, is the first language for most...
O le mafuaaga lenei ua iloa
O le taaga o le tatau i Samoa
O le malaga a teine to'alua
Na feausi mai Fiti le vasa loloa
Na la aumai ai o le atoau
ma sia la pese e tutumau
Fai mai e tata o fafine
Ae le tata o tane
A o le ala ua tata ai tane
Ina ua sese sia la pese
Taunuu i gatai o Falealupo
Ua vaaia loa o se faisua ua tele
Totofu loa lava o fafine
Ma ua sui ai sia la pese
Fai mai e tata o tane
Ae le tata o fafine
Talofa i si tama ua taatia
O le tufuga lea ua amatalia
Talofa ua tagi aueue
Ua oti'otisolo le au tapulutele
Sole Sole, ai loto tele
O le taaloga a tama tane
E ui lava ina tiga tele
Ae mulimuli ana ua a fefete
O atu motu uma o le Pasefika
Ua sili Samoa le ta'taua
O le soga'imiti ua savalivali mai
Ua fepulafi mai ana faaila
Aso faaifo, faamulialiao
Faaatualoa, selu faalaufao
O le sigano faapea faaulutao
Ua ova i le vasalaolao
English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
This is the known origin
Of the tattooing of the tatau in Samoa
A journey by two maidens
Who swam from Fiji across the open sea
They brought the tattooing kit
And recited their unchanging chant
That said women were to be tattooed
But men were not to be tattooed
Thus the reason why men are now tattooed
Is because of the confusion of the maidens' chant
Arriving at the coast of Falealupo
They spotted a giant clam
As the maidens dived
Their chant was reversed
To say that men were to be tattooed
And not women
Pity the youth now lying
While the tufuga starts
Alas he is crying loudly
As the tattooing tool cuts all over
Young fellow, young fellow, be brave
This is the sport of male heirs
Despite the enormous pain
Afterwards you will swell with pride
Of all the countries in the Pacific
Samoa is the most famous
The sogaimiti walking towards you
With his fa'aila glistening
Curved lines, motifs like ali
Like centipedes, combs like wild bananas
Like sigano and spearheads
The greatest in the whole world!
External references
- http://www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz/authors/wendt/tatauing.aspTatauing the Post-Colonial Body paper by Albert WendtAlbert WendtAlbert Wendt, CNZM is a Samoan poet and writer who also lives in New Zealand. Among his works is Leaves of the Banyan Tree .-Biography:...
, Originally published in Span 42-43 (April–October 1996): 15-29] - Tatau song with guitar during female malu tatoo session, Youtube