Maori Tattoo Designs and Meanings
The traditional way of having Maori tattoo designs was performed with the use of bone fragments of albatross and other natural cutting tools. These traditional tools were used to cut the skin deeply with bold colors applied to convey family history, and ancestral background was portrayed through the visible patterns on the skin.
For example, if you were knowledgeable in the history of Maori being an elder in the Maori circle, and somebody asked you to identify a particular tat design presented to you, then, you could easily distinguish the design, and trace the family background. This is just like you’re using a computer to look for a particular ancestry.
However, there is a usual misunderstanding about the Maori tattoo designs and meanings. Many people think that Maori tats were only seen on faces of the natives. The fact is that these tats were also engraved on the bodies of people to signify their rankings in the community.
Nowadays, you can see a lot of Westerners wearing these tats as a means of promoting Maori culture. The problem is that this is viewed as a kind of stealing the honor of the Maori culture and tradition. In fact, a person should not attempt to mimic anything from the “Maoritanga” through having tat designs that are identified with a Maori family.
It is advisable for you to have an idea about Maori tattoo designs and meanings first before you decide to embed them on your body to avoid insulting anyone with Maori ancestry. You will be stepping on their heads if you have the habit of going out and copying all Maori designs that you see on the streets.
If you want to know how the Maoris look at other cultures copying their original Maori designs, here is brief information about it. When Maoris see a person mimicking their own culture without first asking their permission, they view it as something that deteriorates their culture. They believe that modernizing their tat designs is a way of stealing their sacred heritage.
They fear that eventually, when their original body arts have been transformed into modern ones, the greatness and sacredness of Maori tattoo designs and meanings would fade away, and nothing would be left for them to treasure. This is the reason why many contemporary tat artists and tat lovers looking for a unique tribal design usually browse them over and create their own tat designs.
In this complicated world where people tend to lose their initiative to reinvent things especially in the form of tattoos, mimicking the traditional identities of some sacred cultures should not be done especially in the case of Maori tats. If you really like to have a Maori tat design embedded on your skin, then, you should first have a thorough knowledge of the Maori Tat Art lingo.
Remember that in your attempt to have this kind of tat on your body, you should be aware of certain unique terms and phrases in Maori tattoo designs and meanings so that you would be able to use them properly.
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