Maori Tattooing

Maori tattoo's originated from New Zeland. It is seen as a form of body art which is also known as Moko, but are commonly known as Maori tattooing, it is seen as a very scared and highly revered.
    The head is seen as the most sacred part of the body so the face is the most popular place for Maori tattoo's to be done on. Most of these tattoo's consisted of shapes and spiral patterns. The tattoo's covered the whole face and they were a symbol of ranks, prestige and social status power. The tattoo's a very detailed and ritualized. People would start getting the tattoo's as adolescence and that was a way of them showing a celebration of important events throughout  a person's life. 
    'Tohunga-ta moko' which means 'Moko specialist' they are the artist who draw the tattoo's onto people.  The meaning behind the tattoo's are that they are highly respected and are considered inviolable and Holy. The Tohunga-ta moko are mainly men artist, only a few women take it up as practice not as a job.
    The tattoo's are not done by needles, they are done by knives, and chisels which are made from shark's teeth. They call the chisel a "UHI" and it is made from albatross bone, however some can be made from iron. They use natural products to make the ink, they use burnt wood which creates black pigments to make the ink dark and to make the pigments light they use caterpillars infest or a certain type of fungus. 

Why Maori tattoo's are sacred?

If you were mid-process of getting a tattoo you were not allowed to eat with your hands you had to be fed with a wooden funnel so that it did not contaminate the swollen skin. You were also only allowed to talk to people who were in the process of getting a tattoo, and you were not allowed to cry as it was seen as a sign of cowardice. They used singing, music and chanting as a s soothing pain for the swollen faces. 
     As Maori tattoo's were seen as a sing of rank, men who worked as slaves or did not have a high social rank were not allowed to get the tattoo's on there faces.


                                                                 Available form:
                                              http://zealandtattoo.co.nz/maori-tattoo/