A Comparison Of Samoan And Hawaiian Tattoing And Clothing

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Samoan & Hawaiian tattooing and clothing origins You ever seen a warrior from a video game with a cool tattoo designs and clothing and questioned where it came from? Similar to that I’ll explain all about Samoan and Hawaiian tattoo designs and clothing designs and why they wear it, where it came from, who are the people that get to wear these tattoos and clothing, why are they so important to the people of Samoa and Hawaii. Samoan and hawaiian tattoo designs date back to 2 centuries ago, the founding father of tattooing in Tahitian Legend was Ta’aroa and he started tattooing with his two sons and then people in polynesia like Samoa, Tonga, Hawaii, Niuea, and Maoris of Aotearoa better known as New Zealand sailed to Tahiti, where …show more content…

And decided to make their own tattoos and have different designs and made it sacred to where only people with high respect only get to wear and embrace these tattoos (meaning warriors, and chiefs, princesses, princes). On the other hand when it comes to the origin of polynesian clothing, their clothing was made from bark cloth (kapa in hawaiian) and then when all other polynesians figured out how to make their clothing (examples: i’e lava lavas) they all made different designs and decorated it differently through out every island in polynesia like it says in the article Southeastern Islands and the Pacific Asia: History of Dress by Linda B. Arthur “Clothing was made from bark cloth (tapa, or in Hawaii, kapa) that was then decorated with motifs that varied from one culture to the next. Generally, only the lower body was covered with …show more content…

The tattooing is a very painful process and is done by taking pieces of sharpen bones and ink and taping the tattoo in the mallet. Samoans aslo perform sacred tattooing ceremonies called Samaga (sa-ma-ngah) for the women chosen to recieve what is called the Malu and Saufa’i (sa-ew-fa-e) for the men specificly chosen to be the head of thee entire family receiving their chief name and the tattoo called the Pe’a (p-eh-ah). Like the Cheif of their Village, the mens tattoo would generally begin from the lower back region going completely down to the back of the knees, up and around covering everything but the genitals for males. As for females it would start from the top of the thighs going down to the lower kneecap area. Hawaiian tattooing where mostly based around their beliefs in their Gods and honoring them through body art that to them in their own right pleased their Gods. Traditional clothing also were worn by those of royal blood like most other cultures. Hawaiian Chiefs and Warriors had helmets distinct to rank which considered by many to be feared namely the helmet worn by King Kamehameha the first fuler of thee Hawaiian Islands and thee oh so more popular battle helmet thee Ikaika Warriors Helmet, combined with at the time their state of thee art technology in weaponary made for a scary look that would send their opponent into hiding or fear of even stepping on the