Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Samoan Pe'a

In extension, we have been looking at symbols and the meanings and reasons behind the tattoos. But the very tattoo we have been researching and focusing on is the samoan Tatau, or, the Pe'a.

Recently, we were visited by Mr Tele'a, who was going to show us his very own Tatau. But before we could ask questions and find out more information about it, Mrs Tele'a pointed out some of the elements included in the tattoo such as the va'a (canoe).

The Va'a, is a 20-30 cm solid coloured strip that represents family. It wraps around the back and towards the front. In this case, the va'a wraps around and comes just under the ribcage. It also has an arrow point or a faaulutao at each end. 

Once we had done that, we started asking him questions we had prepared before. We asked about the designs, the meanings, how long it took, etc. He answered the questions with detail and explained things very well. One thing he said that I found quite interesting, was that if you unwrap the Pe'a from around your body and look it as if you were looking at it on a piece of paper, it'll look like a bat.

We are now working on creating and designing two of our very own symbols/tattoos. One of them had to include one aspect of our culture or heritage and the other, had to represent ourselves. Currently, I am working on designing the two tattoo's. 

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