| inappropriate tribal tattoos |
Question:
I have a new and totally appropriate traditional Maori-style tatau.
It incorporates entirely tradional elements of Maori art, rauru and
koru. These spirals and stylized palm fronds were the basis of almost
ALL traditional ancient Maori tattoos.
This tattoo is on my arm and shoulder, not facial, but a study of
Maori carving suggests to me that Maori men were tattooed not just on
the face and buttocks but in some cases on arms and shoulders also.
As such I believe this tattoo to be entirely traditional. 1795 or
1995, the art is the same style.
Sorry Llama boy, Trevor Marshall does do traditional Maori style
tattoos, especially to those who understand the significance.
(Jack, I know you don't intend to rip-off Mahayana Buddhism and that
you got the moniker from a Garfield cartoon, but damn its hard to take
you seriously talking about cultural rip-offs!)
I think the word moko is causing a lot of the problem here. The
facial tattoos of old told about lineage, status, etc. Even if a
person's marriage was approved. I think the facial tattoos being done
in New Zealand today just signify: I'm Maori and DAMN proud of it!
Call it moko if you want.
I've met a man with the complete characters from The Wizard of Oz
tattooed on his back. He never wears a shirt. Thats his moko.
I've met a man with spiked purple hair and lead-head nails in each
ear. That was his moko.
Answer:
Not long ago, I read in the papers about Buddhist temple that had
swastikas painted on it (by them). Apparently, the Jewish folks
in the area (understandably) freaked out. Then there was some sort
of meeting among clergymen of many religions to sort it out, and
once the Rabbis were satisfied that it was in no way related to
anti-semitism (but was a symbol that meant something else to the monks,
though I forget what it is but it predated Hitler by a long shot), they
agreed that it was okay.
When I was looking through the book of family crests to find my mother's
family's crest, I ran across a couple that had swastikas in them. There
were some that pointed in the wrong direction too. I have this feeling
that if my family crest had had a swastika in it, I wouldn't have
been as eager to get a tattoo of it even if it had no anti-semitic
reason behind it. It's not a great way to make friends (well, at least
not the kind I prefer to make!)
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