Culture and Art

Origin of Face Tattoo

There are many theories about the origin of face tattoo, which is now still a matter of debate because of different perspectives. Now, we would like to introduce the major theories:


Young lady in tattoo		Young lady in tattoo

★A long long time ago, the ancestors of the Truku tribe thought that they had to worship the nameless gods with human head as sacrifice when misfortunes happened to them. Then, they could escape from the disaster. At one time, however, they went to war (coming out of grass) and tried to hunt enemies’ heads, they chopped the tribesman’s head by mistake. They thought if they tattooed their faces, they would not chop of their comrades’ heads by mistake.

★Long long time ago, according to the legend, a terrible thing happened. One day, many of the young women died without knowing what the reasons were. Such happening terrified the tribe’s people. But they could not find a way to save themselves. One night, a young girl saw their ancestor’s ghost in her dream. He told her, “If you want to escape from this disaster, you have to tattoo some patterns on your face.”

Early the next morning, the young girl told the tribe what she saw in her dream. Then, a smart man used burned charcoal to draw some patterns on the girl’s dress. And told all the women in the tribe to tattoo the same pattern and painted it black on their faces with thin needles. After the Truku women tattooed their faces, they would not die of unknown reasons. Then, tattooing the face had become a custom and was inherited by their descendants.TOP

Significance of Face Tattoo


Women’s tattoo		Men’s tattoo

1. Symbol of Adulthood: The Truku would tattoo their foreheads when they were 5 to 10. Then, the male would tattoo their faces when they were 16 to 20; and the female 14 to 18 to symbolize their adulthood. In the tribe, men would not get married a woman without any face tattoo. And no woman would want to marry a man without any face tattoo as well. After tattooing their faces, they could participate in all the open activities. For the people without face tattoo, they would not be welcomed.

2. Expression of beauty: Tattooing pretty patterns on their faces, the women could attract the men’s attentions.

3. Badge for identification: The people from the Tayal and Truku tribe had to tattoo on their faces. During the war, it could enhance their will to unite, in order to prevent killing their tribes’ people or to get protections.

4. Tribal Identification: The patterns of tattoo differ from a tribe to another. For example, the Truku women tattoo U shape pattern on their faces. Meanwhile, the Tayal women tattooed V shape ones. In addition, the Primaw women tattooed 5 stripes on their foreheads, and the Tayal and Truku women only tattoo only 1 stripe. Also the Dueda prefers to tattoo a wide stripe on their cheeks.TOP

Materials and Tools for Face Tattoo

Materials for Face Tattoo

Preparing ash: Made from the Formosa pine (Pinus taiwanensis Hayata ), ash is a kind of paint used for face tattoos. After people tattooed patterns of their faces, they will color the patterns with ash.

Storage of ash: Ashes scraped from the Formosa pine are stored in a little gourd cover with a lid. When people tattoo, they can bring the ash with them easily. Ordinarily, it is convenient for them keep the ash at home.

Tools for the Face Tattoo


Needle		Stick


Blood Scraper		Calabash

General speaking, the tools for the face tattoo include needle brush, rod, and blood scratching pad. All the tattoo artists used their own tools. Some of them even keep two to three sets of tools. For different people (chaste virgins, unchaste girls, and married women) they will use different tools.

1. Needle brush: Looked like a tooth brush, some people call it spike brush. Its handle is made with lightweight Tung wood. With the shape of a stick, its length varies. Normally, its length will make the tattoo artist comfortable when holding it. There are two kinds of brushes: the small one, with 6 needles, is used for tattooing the forehead, and the big one, with 10 needles, for the cheeks.

2. Rod: Made with light weight wood, one of its ends is thinner for the handle. Meanwhile, the other end is thick for padding. The diameter of the rod is about 3cm and the length is about 9cm.

3. Blood Scratching Pad: It is thin stripe trimmed off from rattan branches. Then, it is tied together with a thin flaxen robe. Round in the upper part, it is pointed at the bottom. Its arc is used to scratch the blood. Other than rattan stripes, people also use bamboo (Phyllostachys Makinoi Hay.) stripe as the blood scratching pad.TOP

Process of the Face Tattoo


Process of tattooing		Process of tattooing

Age: Male 16-20 years old. Reason for face tattoo: they are adults and have hunted the enemy’s heads. Female: 16-20 years old; to show that they are adults and beautiful.
Time: Autumn and Winter
Place: at home or under the warehouse
Materials:

Burn the pine tree and put a copper pot on the fire until black ashes appear. Then, scratch the ash and put it in a bamboo tube.
A bamboo comb is used to clean up the blood.
A log is used as a hammer.
On the wooden face tattoo rod, 7 to 10 needles are installed.
A straw mat is put on the floor and a rattan basket is used as a table. When tattooing, a person will help hold the person’s face.

Tattoo Artists: There are professionals and authorities in the tribe responsible for face tattoos. For those who inherited the art from their ancestors from generation to generation they are qualified to tattoo people’s faces. For those who tattoo people’s face without permit they have to compensate the tattoo artist with many times the wage. Most tattoo artists are women.
Healing time: it takes four months for the swollen face to heal. In the first 10 days, they have to rub their faces with a feather dipped in water to avoid infection and atrophy. Persons who have her face tattooed should put leaflets around them.

[Wage]

Male: They had to prepare two bunches of millets, ramie clothes, and a bracelet to let the tattoo artist choose one among them.

Female: They had to prepare two clothes for the chief, a copper pot, a piglet, 500 cents or 5 to 6 dollars to allow the tattoo artist to choose one among them.TOP

Taboo for the Face Tattoo


Old folks in tattoo		Dancing troupe in tattoo

The Truku do care about extramarital sexual behavior. They believe all adultery will make their ancestors furious. Then, they will send disasters to all the people in the tribe. Especially for the young men and young women that conduct adultery, the ancestors always punish them when they get their faces tattooed. Often, their wounds cannot be healed easily because of infection. Sometimes the patterns on their faces will get blurred. Even, the color of the patterns will be dim and lifeless. Therefore, the tattoo artist will ask the people something about their conducts. If they have indecent sex, they have to confess in front of the ancestors’ spirits before receiving tattoos. Of course, they have to pay double price. After tattooing, the face will be swollen immediately. They even cannot open their mouths and will have difficulties swallowing things. During the recuperation, they have to stay home all day long because they cannot let the wind blow their wounds. If somebody visits their homes and proposes for marriage, their parents will reject the proposal immediately. Then, they will tell the visitors to wait for their daughters’ recovery. If the pattern is clear, with deep color, it means the woman is virtuous as well as talented. And she has a better chance to marry a nice husband.

In other words, all the young men and young women have to abide by their ancestors’ credos not to indulge in adultery or indecent sex. Then, the ancestors’ spirits will guard over them all the time.TOP