Maori_Tattoos

Maori Tattoos Maori Tattoos The practice of tattooing has been around for as long as mankind. Yet for nearly as long as there has been tattooing, there has been condemnation. People have considered decorative tattooing as a vulgar act and a way to mark slaves and criminals. Despite these criticisms and opinions on body modification, to some ancient cultures like the “Maori” it is a way of life. They use tattooing as a rite of passage, to tell the person's position in life, his or her rank and parentage, their marriage status, what line of work they were in, and their 'mana' or power bestowed by the gods. The Maori people have ancient traditions and art forms that are precious to them, but their most prominent art form is their tattoos. The Maori developed an unusual style of tattooing. They took their wood carving techniques and applied it to tattoos. Both men and women were tattooed, at the earliest signs of puberty, and although there were many similarities regarding the placement and function of tattooing for both sexes, there was also much distinction between the two. The Maori wore a full-faced chisel design tattoo known as “Ta Moko” and it was predominantly maori, tattooing, tattoos, moko, tattoo, face, people, women, ta, life, been, way, status, rank, placed, important, history, design, chin, art, ancient, western, today, time, themselves, skin, side, placement, pattern, much, men, marriage, man, made, long, lips