Crossing the Blues

Culture Tattoos Mentawai Islands In The World



Tattoos are art. Tattoos are never one kind. For the criminal perpetrators, is a tattoo. As part of the other, they use the tattoo to show the identity of the group. There is also the history of tattoos as a means of ritual.

Perhaps taken a tattoo of the word tatau in Tahiti. The word was first recorded by the West in the James Cook expedition in 1769. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the oldest tattoos found on Egyptian mummy from the 20th century BC. Permanent sign that is made in a way to enter the coloring in the skin layer, is found in almost all parts of the world.

In a note Ady Rosa, 48 years, Visual Arts faculty, University of Padang, West Sumatra, have a new tattoo on Egypt in 1300 BC. According to master pure art, Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), the Mentawai people have menato bodies since their arrival to the west coast of Sumatra. Proto Malay nation comes from mainland Asia (Indochina), the Metal Zaman, 1500 BC-500 BC.

''That means, Mentawai tattoo that the oldest in the world,''said Ady Rosa, who has 10 years researching tattoos. In the Mentawai. Tattoos titi known by the term. In research Ady Rosa, Mentawai and Egypt in addition, there are also tattoo on Siberia (300 BC), the United Kingdom (54 BC), Haida Indian in the United States, tribes in the Eskimo, Hawaii and the Marquesas Islands.

This tattoo culture, also found in the tribe in the Rapa Nui Easter Island, Maori tribe in New Zealand, ethnic Dayak tribe in Kalimantan and Sumatra in West Sumba. For the Mentawai people, tattoos are the spirit of life. Ady, that in 1992 the cultural center in the Mentawai Siberut Island, find the position of at least four tattoos there.

One of the tattoo is to show the difference between identity and social status or profession. Tattoos sikerei shaman, for example, with a different tattoo expert hunting. Experts hunt through known image tangkapannya animals, such as pigs, deer, monkeys, birds or crocodiles. Sikerei known stars of the tattoo-balu sibalu in body. Arat Sabulungan tale of joke Ady said,''So, before the stars have a general, traditional Mentawai have first ....''

According to research Ady, a teacher by two large ITB, AD Pirous and Primadi Tabrani, dijuluki''''General Tattoos, for the Mentawai people, tattoos have also functions as a symbol of natural balance. In the community, objects such as rocks, animals and plants must be enshrined at the top of the body. ''They assume all objects have souls,''said Ady. Function of the other tattoo is beautiful. Mentawai community also freely menato body in accordance with kreativitasnya.

The position is governed by the belief tattoo tribes Mentawai,''Arat Sabulungan''. This term comes from the word sa (se) or a set, and bulung or leaves. Dirangkai the set of leaves in a circle made of sago shoots or enau, believed to have magical power, or beggar ketse. This is then used as a medium of worship Kabagat Koat Tai (sea god), Tai-leleu Ka (spirit forests and mountains), and Tai Ka Manua (spirit atmosphere).

Arat Sabulungan used in the ceremony each birth, marriage, medical, moving house, and penatoan. When children enter the grown-up men, aged 11-12 years old, my parents call sikerei and rimata (headman). They will negotiate and determine the day of the month penatoan.

After that, dipilihlah sipatiti-tattoo artists. Sipatiti this position is not based on the adoption community, such as shaman or chieftain, but professional men. His expertise should be paid with a pig. Before penatoan akan done punen enegat, alias initiation ceremony led sikerei, in puturukat (gallery owned sipatiti).

Body ditato akan kid who is drawn to the start lidi. Sketches on the body is then ditusuk with the needle bertangkai wood. Wood handles this beaten slowly with a wooden mallet to enter the coloring substance to the skin layer. Dyes used is a mixture of banana leaves and coconut shell charcoal.

Promise Gagak Borneo Penatoan early or paypay sakoyuan, was conducted at the base of arms. When the tread of adult age, followed by tatonya pattern durukat in the chest, in the hands of takep titi, titi rere on the thigh and leg, titi puso on the stomach, and titi teytey the waist and back.

In conclusion Ady Rosa, Mentawai tattoo closely associated with cultural dongson in Vietnam. Suspected, from the Mentawai people come here. Fathers of the land, they sailed to the Pacific Ocean and New Zealand. As a result, a similar motif is also found in some tribes in Hawaii, Marquesas Islands, Rapa Nui tribe in Easter Island, and Maori tribes in New Zealand. In Indonesia, according to Ady, Mentawai tradition tattoo more democratic than the tattoo Dayaks in Kalimantan. In Dayak culture, tattoo shows the status of a property.

The''bertato, the rich,''he said. Toh, Baruamas sidewhiskers Balumus, 67 years, leaders from the indigenous Dayak tribes Park, menuturkan, tattoos in the Dayak people have aspects other than a symbol of social strata. Cats''is a homage to the ancestral form,''says native leaders called Masuka Djanting it. Examples are in the tradition of tattoo culture Dayak Iban and Dayak Kayan. In both tribes, the menato believed as a symbol and a means to reveal a natural ruler. Tattoos also be able to avert evil spirits and drive away the spirit of disease or death.

Tattoos as a form of expression associated with the cosmology of God Dayak. For the Dayak people, divided the three: the top, middle and bottom. Symbols that represent the cosmos on the patterns seen in the tattoo hornbills, month and the sun. Middle world, where human life, disimbolkan with the tree of life. While the dragon is a motif that shows the world down.

Charles Hose, officer in the British Office in the Sarawak Civil Service in 1884, diligent record-legend legend Dayak people who trusted them. In the book Natural Man, A Record from Borneo edition Oxford University Press, 1990, Charles Hose told Borneo promise crows and birds to each other kuau Argus decorate their fur.

After the First Hapa In the legend, crow mulus successfully do its work. Unfortunately, birds kuau is foolish. Because not afford, eventually kuau Argus ask crows to sit on the bowlful ink, and menggosokkannya to the entire body kuau, eater of carrion. Since that time, perhaps, crows and birds have kuau marking equipment''and''such as now.

Widely, tattoos found in all the Dayak people. However, the rate Hose, techniques and best tattoo designs are owned Kayan tribe. For this tribe, penatoan only done when certain eligible. For men, the process penatoan after he could mengayau the enemy. Tradition tattoo for men is slowly sinking in line with the restrictions mengayau.

After the prohibition, the tattoo appears only for the sake of aesthetics. Tattoos tradition is not lost on the Eve. Now, they consider tattoos as symbols of beauty and self esteem. Although the Dayak people do not recognize caste, tedak kayaan, aka no women bertato, considered lower in rank than the bertato.

There are three kinds of tattoo disandang ordinary women Dayak Kayan. Among other tedak kassa, which covers the whole foot and after the adult. The other is tedak usuu in the hand, and tedak hapii in the thigh. Among the Dayak Kenyah tribe, penatoan begins when a woman aged 16 years, or after the first period.

Custom ceremony performed in a special home. During penatoan, all men in the home should not be out of the house. In addition, all family members must also undergo a variety of taboo. I wonder if that are taboo, the safety of the ditato akan threatened. First, so that children are not moving ditato, large mortar placed on the body.

Kalaau the child to cry, crying is to be done in a tone that is also strain specific. In the Dayak Iban community, tattoos reflect social status. Customary chief, village heads, and war commander menato themselves with symbols of the world over. Symbols decorate the bottom of the body only ordinary people. This motif inherited hereditary kinship lines to show someone.