TATTOOING

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 3 April 1926, Page 9

TATTOOING

ITS SCIENCE MEANING OL AN A NCI ENT ART I’rotessor .1. Arthur I horn on. writing in .loliii o' Loudon's Weekly, says' All of a .-.milieu, by some; ine.\plii-<jl>ic i cerude,sconce, a tattooing fiend appears in a school, and in a few days a certain percentage of the hoys are marked for life, lankily, the marks are usually i.f modest dimensions, for the searifyinr of the |.-:tl(er;i with the needle is unpleasant. But some of the susrep!ib'e are ambitious and return to their agonised parents \\ i 1 1t an i no radical iv horse hoe or or.- oiit moon, an ugly bird or I mat. imprinted on t In* i c h-G band. Il is a hideously wrong I him: todo. and should he prevented by forewn ruin;;, but it is. to those who can look at it with detachment, an interesting outi roll of a v ery a indent and soldi'll uni custom. \Ye have just been leading about it in Mr \V. I >. HamVv's new book. “The History of Tattooing and its Significance." THI'XIR! ES or TATTOOING Her.' is an ancient custom. going hack to prehistoric times. occurring from Cuma to Fern, from Babylon to Brazil, affe, ting dark skins am! light .kins—what !i*cs ;t mean? Many answers tivre have been, pome t” sim pie ;’i example, in linking il to t 1 ■- *' ' -- and ntt-er probably too subtle —for example, that tlie marlwere meant to sc tire a place in heaven The probability is that ta‘toning '.a bad iff If rent, meanings in different pia ties and among different neo-pier, but ■il- i.iiuh ! lic-Lv looking for some re'a* i’-elv " : i’v-!t- an! .-I'imit ive motives. -iii i . i' bidv in.:rk tig. But I” .••a.'.li for simple sugiiiheuncido -s in-' m i-:: 1 to- lie promising. It we ask a i iiii,'.' or a iiolier-mau to-day why be is ; t Inbornt eiy tat 100-ed. iie tells us' tlur the detailed markings will seem"- ihi Hieiilifieation < f his body r-imuh! In- be drowned. But tin’s is almost certainly a modern rationalising of what vviis 11 ■ >-e 1 1 Jess m.a-l I er-of fact to be mi with. Moreover, the identification could be s. urtd more simply by merely t.at.tf -ing a ilium- or a number. 1 lie. ri'ceginl i l -:i mark t-licc-rv will not work, especially sim p Hie same elaborate design may bo found repeated on the body o-f ;il! tiie members of a lri.be. BEAUTY MARKS Another over-simple theory is that tlie tat toe-in gs are purely decorative, calling attention, as it were, to the good points of the bodv. Just as ladies in modern t i-mes have worn dark palehes on tli-eir fair fares, so dusky damsels have putan elaborate display of integumentary hieroglyphics. But this would not account for the. repel il ion of the same J.vmbol. rsP'vi illy w in n t hat is the to--1 rm animal of the tribe a scorpion or a it-nt-iivdi. a rling-rav ' r a turtle, an ~;i.rj( ‘ or a riger. SoiiM'l imes. no doubt-. ; here is an < nh ineem-i -at- of charms, but this eanno; be Hie true inwardness of tattooing. \Ye must keep in mind Dial for vvi-iiii a espreiallv it is a seeie. .it. fair, in-t to be snoken of. wrapped up wit;i ritual am) initiations. Sometimes i|. b nbomnalily elaborate, the- face, broad ami arms being covered with figure's so that they “present the appearof a Turkish carpet.” It must of ten be. verv painful, when thorns are used as a pencil, and the pigment tottsists of ashes mixed with blond. J be deeper meaning is in great putt- teligious. Tattooing of won,-en is often

fi expression n*f u belief tluii frrtiMy, j safe ini»l!icr!i(; f «l. and persistence of 1 i!<• j in Ik'.'ivhi or in the underworld may be ' liius seemed. i .M ,\( ill"' S V M 1501,8 Tiie belief;- behind hi lie.- in g are . -fi i | magied rather than religicus. but I'•• ’ laaindarv Inn i- vague. I- ddl'ieul! for us t oreali:-■ I'rimitiYe liu nta 1:1 y; : though we are not always reiiLOte from, it in : f>:jir- of o:ir lingering t upersl it ii -ns j Wo have got imvond neo iliiig qnr world ! v iih inali (Tut spirits who inflict die \ eas s and iail.se aeeidenls. hut how na • lurid is this livni thesis to minds vim are, ignorant •(' physiology and very vague aliout i" (MW effect V ' itm, a (SUS . S', the simp! ■ people make specifii tattoo, marks to wai 1 off : peeific dangers, nidi ( as snakehite. or Use particular designs, i " in l'ii ". if be., i'h' exhibition ci ' a pa | t ie'dar vii (ne. sneli as the oom - i aye of tiie lion. Phe.-c skin eli.a rms j has e the goat ad'ant ige that tln\' <am | no; ii.-t. Mr Humbly pro\ e.- Ms , I >'in!s in a s olai'lv wav- we aie ci'.iv i eoiieerned here with the general con ; elusion that beside i having a religious | i-ignifieam th • taMo 'ing i- often • m- j of the nirt’irxls of magi', -o" wm'ding off I'Vt! and 1 •;■ i igir.g got'l luck KIN, MARKS A * at-I my.! mark mav be a sacred f.vmbol an 1 he metrr le. serve a« a (vi.E'ivsri to be iv'n. Or it mav be an vmdet mhable airml"' that vr t or-1 s from Urn wild ’ . !.b • spew'. T : ■ . .., . !, . a.-- a erndi e.hicM growing so-ial sclidarii-v. R is i < this form that it - mod. ft ef|in nt Iv In p, ■. ii. (i ■ ih.-cd s"iity: •’■us tee siiloc will Inn ins a ichor and the sc. di. r iris ‘.ami n. In e"tineet ien vx' i 11 1 tiie sm'ial aspect (d I,i drying. it -tcnld lie redd that its pari'c’ila" form wiv i-ti-.'onfc* ilm stains. .serving ;w a skm-'b'en herald"v Furl In rmo-e. the marking of wi.-nien as .'iging to a certain i ■emmnnit v is said to be useful •ev‘ ti to-dtiv in some fierce tribal feuds, fir the lat'oed wn man goes unscathed. I bus to the reI'gioiis a.nd tin' * .igieal origins of tat feeing the seeial must he added, and there mav have been other origins of the universal a.nd ancient practice. In some cases, for instance, it mav pogsifilv be linked on to the blood-letting craft of the medicine man.