Tattoo History - Samoa

The island group Samoa was already sighted by three dutch ships under the regency of the dutch Jacob Roggeweins in 1722, long before the discovery and naming of Polynesia. A member of the expedition described the natives as follows: "They talk politely and behave very courteous, in no way barbaric or gruesome. They don't paint themselves, as the natives on the other islands do, but on they lower part of the body they are wearing cleverly woven, silk trousers."

Not until 1768, when the first Europeans around the Frenchman Louis Antoine de Bougainville landed on Samoa, it was discovered the clothes were actually tataus. Different to the Moko facial tattoo of the Maori from New Zealand and the full body tataus of the Marquesas the Samoan tatau was much more abstract. In 1787 another frenchmen Jean François de La Pérouse followed. In 1830 the first missionaries sent by the London Missionary Society started their work on Savai'i, besides Upolo the main island of Samoa, and just within 10 years all Samoans were converted to the christian faith.

Despite the dramatic influence of western civilization on the island cultures the inhabitants of Samoa, who mostly lived in luscious rain forests, could preserve their rituals and customs better than any other culture of the Polynesian Islands. The reason for this probably is that the social structure today is still the same as then and still based on family clans each lead by a Matai, a chieftain. Big families even form an own village community called Nu'u, with a spokesperson called Tulafale and a chieftain called Ali'i. In those communities the tatau already had a very important social meaning for each individual long before the landing of the europeans.

The pattern and motives of Samoan tataus reach from the knees to the upper part of the body and are pigmented smoothly. They are applied exclusively on men by the "Tufuga ta tatau", the tatau masters, and performed by pressing a hoe like instrument into the skin. A Samoan saying says: "Fanau le teine fana fanau, fanau le tama le tatau" which means "If a girl is born it must bear the pain of birth, if a boy is born it must bear the pain of tatauing". According to Samoan initiation rituals a man can only be a complete being with social duties for the community if he is tataued. If a Samoan is not tataued he will not be buried but his corpse is thrown into the jungle somewhere.

The concept of the male tatau on Samoa is called Pe'a. A master of the Pe'a may call himself Tofuga. But also women were tataued on Samoa with simple rhombus in the hollow of their knees called Malu.

Today, against all traditions, the Samoan tatau is not performed as an initiation ritual anymore in congested areas but more as sign of pride and connection with the traditions and the culture. Therefore the Samoans don't like it all that the western civilization discovered the Samoan skin art for them and that it became a synonym for the Polynesian tradition. The Samoan Paolo Sulu'ape was probably the most important representative of Polynesian tatau art in Europe.

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