Tattoos and Their Relationship to Polynesian Culture

Tattoos and their Relationship to Polynesian Culture Denise Lutz Axia College of University of Phoenix They print signs on peoples body and call(a) this tattow- James Cook (Losch, 2003). What might his frontmost thoughts have been upon anchoring at one of the Polynesian islands, seeing natives cover in fitings? What did the markings and designs mean? Could he have wondered what the significance was, who did this to them, and what was utilize to place those markings on them. Although tattoos were ultimately banned, there was an impact on the Polynesian culture; one could determine ones rank, status, and origin base on the tattoos. Tattoos have existed on the Polynesian islands for over 2000 years, Samoa be the oldest island in the Polynesian chain and Aotearoa-slash-Te Waipounamu being the youngest of the islands that practiced tattooing. Although the Spaniards were the inaugural to discover tattoos in Polynesia in 1595, the first written descriptions regarding tattoos did not appear for almost two centuries (Tahiti Tatou, 2007). Though there were differences betwixt the Polynesian islands that made each island unique there were similarly similarities that were shared between all the islands.

One of the primary differences between the tattoos on Polynesian islands was the traditional names that were used for tattooing. For example, legion(predicate) of the islands used traditional names for tattooing such as Moko from the island Maori, Tatatu from the island of Tonga, and Tatau from the island of Samoa. In fact the term tattoo originated from the Polynesian word ta which means to strike something and the Tahitian word tatau which means to mark something (Designbloom, 2000-2009). There were two basic design styles that were shared amongst all the Polynesian islands. The first design style was known as Etua and the second style was known as Enata (Hastings, 2009). The designs associated with Etua were of a hale spiritual nature, had a religious connotation, and were looked... If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com

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