Guest Speaker: Trisha Allen on Tattoo Revival on Polynesia

     Guest Speaker Trisha Allen had an interesting discussion with us on tattoo basically about hawaiian tattoo and what they represent. For someone who doesn't know much about hawaiian tattoo it was interesting hearing her talk about the origin of tattoo and how its transformed to modern style while keeping the meaning of the tattoo. She talked about culture and its what we perceive the world today. Most patterns shown on the slideshow are patterns represented by ancestors and its passed down to generations and generations. What really caught my attention was her explanation on mourning for the death of Kamehameha. People have to go through pain during his death. She talked about how people should mourn to show sorrow for his death and it must be done through these three things: burn themselves, knock out a tooth, and cut off finger. This was my first time hearing it so i went home still thinking about it. I believe its just the way things are given that he is was the King and everyone must obey and respect him in every way they can. I really dont know much about hawaiian tattoo but i do know about Samoa tattoo which i think its kind of different from tattoos that i've seen on the slide show that was protrayed on screen that night.
    In Samoa (both American and Western) has two most popular and most important tattoos that carries the tradition on culture. Male has their own which is called "Soga'imiti" (Samoan Tatau) so as the female and its called the "Malu". The male tattoo is for Matai's or their sons and the Malu are for their daughters. If so happens that a Matai dont have a daughter, the family will consider having one of his niece to complete the family tradition. These two tattoos are only use in families who have High Talking Chiefs not just a tattoo for
men who just want one.
 Male Tattoo (Soga'imiti):

Female Tattoo (Malu) [above]

The way tradition tattoo works for Samoan, if ever the Matai or his son got the tattoo its a must for the daughter to get a malu whether she like it or not because its tradition and if the daughter refuse it will be an embarassment towards the family and they have to find their closest girl cousin to get the tattoo. A male tattoo does not stand alone whenever a Soga'imiti is complete the family has to talk among themselves and consider having a female get a Malu to be a pair with the Soga'imiti. I dont fully understand why it works that way but growing up with a Samoan tradition i was told that its just the way Samoan Culture works. Even in my family i have uncles and cousins who have these kind of tattoo and if you ask me i think i'll pass. Im not afraid to get on its just that it looks like hours and hours of pain. Anyways, like i said before i dont know much about polynesian tattoo but i do know about Samoan Tattoo. I believe each culture have their own style and way of tattoo just to keep that traditiona and culture within. I really enjoyed hearing about Polynesian tattoo especially hawaiian tattoo shown on screen because each patterns stands for something important. I was able to understand why some people would have a lot of tattoo printed on their body its because it stands for something they valued not just for fun. Although, tattoo back in the days are really unique in terms of their meaning and improtance people nowdays tried out other different way of tattoo. They tend to tattoo names of someone they loved the most on their skin which i think itscool and amazing. Perhaps people just feel like adding new trending to the tattoo style that was introduced to them back in the days. I had the opportunity to listen to a different perspective on polynesian tattoo and it was really worth listening to it.