Po ʻo le ā sou tāofi Sāmoa e, pe naʻo matai ma o lātou alo na tā a lātou tatau?
(What say you Sāmoa, was tattooing restricted to chiefs and their children?) Here is some information from the Rev. George Turner:
E pei ona tūsia i le tusi a Misi Tana, “O Samoa Anamua,” (1884): “Seʻiloga lava ʻua tā le tama tauleʻaleʻa ona faʻatoʻā amanaʻia lea. Sā lē faitauina ʻo ia ʻi se faʻaāvāga, sā faʻalumaina ʻo ia atili, ʻa e lē gata i lea, sā fai foʻi ʻo ia ma tuʻuga palai a tagata; ʻo mea leaga ʻuma lava e māfaufauina sā lafo lava ʻiā te ia. Sā lē mafai ona tautala ʻo ia i saofaʻiga a tagata mālolosi, na taʻupalaʻaiina foʻi ʻo ia ʻona ʻo ia na ʻo se pulaʻū. ʻA e ʻo le aso e ʻuma ai lana tatau, ʻo le aso lava lea e soloaʻi atu ai ʻo ia i le vasega o tagata mātutua ma sā talia faʻatasi ma isi foʻi ʻo le saofaʻiga a ē na tatā ia le faʻaaloalo ma le tomai o le olaga matua ma le mafai.” (Itulau 71)
As it is written in the Rev. George Turner’s book “Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago and Long Before:” (1884): “Until a young man was tattooed, he was considered in his minority. He could not think of marriage, and he was constantly exposed to taunts and ridicule, as being poor and of low birth, and as having no right to speak in the society of men. But as soon as he was tattooed he passed into his majority, and considered himself entitled to the respect and privileges of mature years.” (88-89)
Although many people say that tattooing may have been restricted to chiefs, the practice, according to Turner at least, may have surrounded around the chiefs but tauleʻaleʻa (untitled men) were still necessary to be tattooed. They were tattooed along with the children of the chiefs as those tattooed were done so in pairs as “soa.” We will explore this further in future posts.
PC: Cloudsurfer (Wikipedia); Samoan Material Culture (Te Rangi Hiroa)
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