Body Art and Ornamentation: Different Cultures
Angel Torres
ANT 101 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
Dr. Marissa Kesel
June 29, 2014

Body Art and Ornamentation: Different Cultures For centuries, body art and ornamentation haves been in existence in many cultures around the world with each piece of art on the body having a symbolic meaning to one’s particular culture. Culture, as defined by Richley Crapo, is “a learned system of beliefs, feelings, and rules for living around which a group of people organize their lives; a way of life of a particular society” (Crapo, 2013). Some of these forms of body art that cultures represent consist of tattooing, piercing, painting, shaping, and scarring, all of which communicated a visual language to their people. Body art has significance within each culture that may translate as a relationship with their ancestors or peers, a protection against evil or a meaning of good luck, and an expression as someone’s status of individuality. Decorating the body until present day is a way of communicating. In some way it sends a perception to others who you are and to which group you may be a part of. Every society has many different forms of expressing body art used by people. A person’s body art can represent their beliefs, gender, power, and hierarchy. Decoration of the body to some may seem more attractive to people when displayed in a certain part of their body. For the purpose of this paper, body art of two different cultures has been researched. One of the cultures that will be mentioned is the ancient art of Polynesian body art that has existed for over 2000 years. Within the Polynesian culture, the Samoan society located in a chain of island in the central South Pacific is considered to hold some of the oldest Polynesian traditions. It is a culture that believes in two major ingredients, faith and most importantly family. In Samoan culture, faith mainly consists of Christianity. The family ingredient is very important to Samoan’s because it is strongly believed that the idea of family is where they gain all their knowledge and everything that is needed on this earth. The other culture that will be mentioned is an African tribe known to have a variety of body art among their people, with scarification being the most traditional form. In particular the Karo tribe, which has a small population of about 3,000 people that mainly live adjacent to the Omo River in southwestern Ethiopia. The Karo tribe practice face and body painting during some of their spectacular ceremonies. With woman scaring their chests and stomachs to beautify themselves. Scars are cut in unique designs using a knife and cow dung or ash is applied to the cuts to produce a raised welt. This African tribe will be discussed to describe some similarities and differences with the Samoan society. With these two cultures the goal is to compare their methods pertaining to how body art varies within their societies. Polynesian tattooing has been established as a legacy that started over 2000 years ago. The English word tattoo comes for the Samoan word Tatau. In the 18th century the Polynesian culture had its first contact with European explorers that took note of the Polynesian tradition. The native word of tatau was brought back while being mispronounced by foreigners, which led to the English word we now know as tattoo. “Tattoos, then being very exceptional in Europe, were reintroduced in the 18th century, chiefly through sailors who came back from their journeys in the South Seas, a geographic region where tattoo was regularly practiced” (Martí, 2010). Historically and traditionally, the Samoans never considered a tattoo as a negative thing nor did it represent anything negatively. It was never seen as an act of being a rebel, or a criminal as some societies may tend to stereotype a person with tattoos nowadays, and during the process of getting a tattoo it was never conducted while being intoxicated with the idea of reducing the discomfort because it was the belief that dealing with the tremendous pain of getting a tattoo was a rite of passage symbolizing strength and manhood. For a Samoan to have a tattoo, it meant and contained a great amount of pride and honor to represent their Polynesian culture. It represented a way of rite of passage, it symbolized a family involvement, service of family, and it was a form to show the pride of cultural art that was a thousand years old while proudly living the Samoan way. A person with a tattoo also had a traditional meaning of protection, strength, and in search of spiritual powers. Samoans used it as a sign to others as what position or level of hierarchy they obtained. It was believed by the culture that their life history was displayed through their tattoos. Studies show that in ancient times just about all Polynesians had tattoos to represent their culture. The skill of being a tattoo artist was a tradition to Samoans that was passed from father to son. The young apprentice would be in training and under supervision for many years. It was a craft that required countless hours of training and in honoring the Polynesian tradition, they had to make their own special tattooing tools made of sharp boar’s teeth tied together with pieces of turtle shell and attached to a wooden handle. Normally when a boy was in his puberty a tattooing ceremony was conducted that resembled a mark of a leadership role. The fascinating tattoos on the body would celebrate the boy’s dedication to cultural traditions. Similar to getting tattoos today it meant having to deal with the great amount of pain with concern of risks of possible infection to the point of death. However, if getting a tattoo was neglected that person would be considered a coward to the society. For those that could not stand the painful process of getting the cultural body art it would be left incomplete with having to wear a shameful mark on there body for the rest of their lives. In the late 1700’s Captain James Cook, a British explorer had sailed through several Polynesian islands such as Hawaii, Tahiti, and New Zealand where he had discovered the fascinating body art which he had introduced to Europe. It was not until during the first and second world wars when US Navy sailors began the trend of tattooing as a means of patriotism and brotherhood. Through many years of exposed tattooing in America by the US military it became popular with many different styles of art to choose from. Today, in the United States tattooing is considered to be one of the most popular ways for teenagers and young adults to express themselves, their personal style, and feelings. Tattoos have become influenced by colonialism and what is currently a cultural fashion style that has been accepted within our society. Another researched society to note is that of the history of Karo tribe. Studies from anthropologists have observed different types of body markings within African tribes, with scarification being the most common form. African tribes utilized this method of body markings in order to make statements among their tribe, along with people outside from their tribe. For example, in Ethiopia the men of the Karo tribe will permanently mark their chests to symbolize to others of how many enemies from others tribes he has killed. “Women did the same bodywork on the things they made, such as textiles, pottery, and house painting, as on their bodies, whereas men carved scarification patterns on sculptures and inscribed them on metal” (Schildkrout, 2004). The Karo tribe, with only 3,000 people it continues to carry and practice its rich traditions involving body art such a body painting and scarifications. Scarification as defined by Richley Crapo, “is used in the culture to permanently decorate their body with patterns made of scars” (Crapo, 2013). Scarification is considered a cultural activity that is conducted throughout Africa such as, Congo, Sudan, and northern Ghana just to mention a few. It is a long and painful process that permanently modifies the body that will essentially send a message of identity and social status. This form of body art is also a method to emphasize a particular ethnic group, family, or simply for personal individuality. In addition, it may be performed on girls as a rite of passage when reaching certain stages of their life such as becoming a woman or when getting married. Karo woman allow their elders as an initiation rite to cut onto their skin with a knife with ashes or dung being rubbed over the welt causing the scars to be raised. They slice the woman’s chest, back and buttocks to test their strength and self-discipline. It is tribal tradition that once a Karo woman has demonstrated that she is indeed strong and disciplined by receiving all of her scars she is allowed to get married and have children. By comparing the Samoan culture with the Karo tribe we can see that there is a similarity in both. Besides the extreme pain in both types of body arts, there is respect gained by others in their society, and lastly both cultures used these rituals as a rite of passage for the young men and women of their perspective group. The differences in these two cultures is that Samoans used a sharp utensil to penetrate ink by tapping into the skin while the African tribe of Kora used a cutting method into the skin making a permanent scar. The goal here was to point out the differences and similarities of two completely different cultures so that we will have a better idea and understanding of how diverse our world is. It was fascinating to learn how diverse body art is around the world. Weather it is expressed by tattooing, scarring, piercing or painting, the reasons are all different. Most do it for religious reasons, others may do it for self-expression, and while for some it is simply a cultural ritual. Whatever the reason may be and besides the effort and pride that went into beautify their bodies, they all have something in common, in which it tells the society what they believe in, who they are, or even where they come from.

References
Crapo, R. H. (2013). Cultural anthropology. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education.

Martí, J. (2010). Tattoo, Cultural Heritage and Globalization. Scientific Journal Of Humanistic Studies, 2(3), 1-9.
Schildkrout, E. (2004). INSCRIBING THE BODY. Annual Review Of Anthropology, 33(1), 319- 344. doi:10.1146.