Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
TATTOOING (Tahitian, tatu, from ta, m...
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: SUS-TAV
del.icio.us it!
|
See also:TATTOOING (Tahitian, tatu, from ta, See also:mark) , the practice of decorating the skin, by cutting or puncturing, with various patterns into which a colouring See also:matter is introduced. Though the word is Polynesian, the See also:custom appears to have been almost universal, but tends to disappear before the spread of See also:civilization. The See also:prohibition to the See also:Jews (Lev. xix. 28) under the See also:Mosaic See also:Law to " See also:print any marks " upon themselves is believed to have reference to tattooing, which is still See also:common in See also:Arabia. The See also:North and See also:South See also:American See also:Indians, the See also:Chinese, See also:Japanese, Burmese, all See also:tattoo. The origin of the custom is disputed. It was probably at first for purely ornamental purposes and with the See also:idea of attracting the opposite See also:sex. The See also:discovery in the caves of Western See also:Europe of hollowed stones which had been apparently used for grinding up ochre and other coloured See also:clays is thought See also:evidence that prehistoric See also:man painted himself, and tattooing for decorative reasons may easily date back to the See also:cave-dwellers. The See also:modern See also:savage paints himself as a See also:protection against See also:cold, against the bites of See also:insects or the See also:sun's rays, and most of all to give himself a ferocious See also:appearance in See also:battle, as See also:Caesar relates of the See also:ancient Britons. Any of these motives may have shared in originating tattooing. Subsequently the practice assumed religious and social significance, varying with the See also:country and according to the See also:age at which it was performed. Thus in See also:Polynesia it is begun in or about the twelfth See also:year, and becomes thus a mark of See also:puberty; while ~.mong the See also:Arabs and the See also:Kabyles of See also:Algeria infants are tattooed by their mothers for See also:simple See also:ornament or as a means of recognizing them. The American Indians See also:bore from their See also:initiation at puberty the mark of the See also:personal or tribal totem, which at once represented the religious See also:side of their See also:life, and served the See also:practical purpose of enabling them to be known by friendly tribes. Among the Australians tattooing served as a mark of See also:adoption into the See also:family or tribe, the distinctive See also:emblem or kobong being scarred on the thighs. Tattooing is regarded, too, as a mark of courage. A Kaffir who has been a successful See also:warrior has the See also:privilege of making a See also:long incision in his thigh, which is rubbed with cinders until sufficiently discoloured. Elsewhere tattooing is a sign of See also:mourning, deep and numerous cuts being made on See also:face, See also:breast and limbs. Among the Fijians and Eskimos the untattooed were regarded as risking their happiness in the future See also:world. Some of the most remarkable examples of tattooing are those to be found among the See also:Laos, whose stomachs, thighs, legs and breasts are often completely covered with fantastic See also:animal figures like those on Buddhistic monuments. The rudest See also:form of tattooing is that practised specially by the Australians and some tribes of negroes. It consists in cutting gashes, arranged in patterns, on the skin and filling the wounds with See also:clay so as to form raised scars. This tattooing by scarring as compared with the more common mode of pricking is, as a See also:general See also:rule, confined to the See also:black races. See also:Light-skinned races tattoo, while dark practise scarring. In Polynesia the See also:art of tattooing reached its highest perfection. In the See also:Marquesas See also:group of islands, for example, the men were tattooed all over, even to the fingers and toes and See also:crown of the See also:head, and as each operation took from? three to six months, beginning at virility, a man must have been nearly See also:thirty before his See also:body was completely covered. In New See also:Zealand the face was the See also:part most tattooed, and See also:Maori heads so decorated were at one See also:time in much See also:request for See also:European museums, but they are no longer obtainable in the See also:colony. In See also:Japan, where it became a high art, tattooing was neither ceremonial nor symbolical. It was in lieu of clothing, and only on those parts of the body usually covered in civilized countries, and in the See also:case of those only who, like the jinrikisha-men, See also:work See also:half naked. The See also:colours used are black, which appears See also:blue, made from See also:Indian See also:ink, and different tints of red obtained from See also:cinnabar. See also:Fine sewing-needles, eight, twelve, twenty or more, fixed together in a piece of See also:wood, are used. A See also:clever tattooer can See also:cover the See also:stomach or back in a See also:day. As soon as the picture is See also:complete, the patient is bathed in hot See also:water. The Ainus, on the other See also:hand, tattoo only the exposed parts of the body, the See also:women, unlike the Japanese, being frequently patients. The tattooing See also:instruments used in Polynesia consisted of pieces of sharpened See also:bone fastened into a handle, with their edges cut into See also:teeth. These were dipped into a See also:solution of See also:charcoal and then driven into the skin by See also:smart blows with a See also:mallet. During the operation, assistants, usually See also:female relatives, drowned the cries of the sufferer with songs and the beating of drums. Under the See also:influence of civilization tattooing is losing its ethnological See also:character, and has become, in Europe at least, an eccentricity of soldiers and sailors and of many among the See also:lower and often criminal classes of the See also:great cities. Among eight See also:hundred convicted See also:French soldiers Lacassagne found 40 per cent. tattooed. In the See also:British See also:army till 1879 the letters D. and B. C. for Deserter and See also:Bad Character were tattooed with needles and Indian ink; and tattooing has often been used to identify criminals and slaves. See Lacassagne, See also:Les Tatouages (See also:Paris, 1881); General Robley, Moko or Maori Tattooing (1896). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
|
[back] TATTOO |
[next] TAUCHNITZ |