What is the Meaning and Significance of Traditional Maori Tattoos?

Maori Tattoos

Maori tattoos or Ta Moko originated from New Zealand among the Maori people and is considered sacred art by them. They consider it to be a cultural symbol of their people and as all cultures, it should be respected. There are many different designs traditional tattoo designs of Maori and each one of them has some significance and meaning associated with it. In the earlier these tattoo designs used to be done only on the face of men but with time, it has changed. You will now be able to see these designs all over the body.

The Maori tattoos were considered a rite of passage for the men living in that region. It was only men of high ranking or those who occupied a high place in their society who sported these tattoos. Traditionally it was only the men who had these designs engraved on their face and women were allowed to have them only on the chin, lips and nostrils. The designs on the face were used to indicate the heritage of the individual. Men of this region used to get these tattoos on their faces to make themselves more attractive to the opposite sex.

These designs have now become a popular choice for people all over the world. However care should be taken that traditional Maori tattoos in not tampered with and there is no disrespect shown towards it. There are a lot of spiral patterns in the traditional designs and they used to be long and intricate. A very interesting aspect about the Maori tattoos is that no needles are used for making these beautiful designs. Instead chisel or uhi is used to create the tattoos on the face. These chisels were often made from the teeth of shark and sharpened bone or stone were also used for this purpose. It was a very painful process and the person doing the tattoo had to be very careful so as to avoid cuts on the face, The entire design on the face used to take several days to complete.

You will be surprised to know that no two Moko designs are the same. There is a distinct pattern in each of these designs. The entire face of the man used to be covered in these tattoo designs and sometimes tattoos were also designed on the buttocks of men alone. There was a lot of significance attached to these tattoo designs and people who used to get these designs on the body were not allowed to eat with their own hands or eat with other people till the process of designing the tattoo was completed. Maori tattoos have survived the test of time and managed to retain their distinct identity.