Eirik+-+Maori+Culture

Culture
When seeing a Māori the first thing you would notice different from the other natives is the tattoos, these tattoos called Ta moko is a tradition in the Māori culture. These tattoos are placed specific places for what they have achieved through their life, most common is when u get married that the man tattoos he’s face and the woman here chin and lips.

The origin of the Ta moko tradition is told as a story of an affair between a normal young man called Mataoroa and Niwareka the princess of the underworld. Niwareka got bored in the underworld and decided to go up to the surface and explorer. But when she met Mataoroa she instantly fell in love and the relationship soon after ended up with marriage. But as the surface peoples didn’t know about Ta moko Niwareka just painted in their faces instead of using a chisel and making it permanent.

But as the years went Mataoroa was abusive towards Niwareka and ended up with her escaping back to her father in the underworld. But Mataoroa was determined to get her back and struggled his way down to the underworld, all his sweat ruined the Ta moko. All the Niwareka peoples laughed at him, as they all had permanent chiseled Ta moko. Determined to get Niwareka back, Mataoroa asked her father if he could teach him the art of chiseling real Ta moko tattoos. Niwareka forgave Mataoroa and they both went back to the surface to teach the art of Ta moko.

Today Ta moko is usually made with proper tattoo equipment, but to keep their tradition there still a few tattoo artists whom use chisels to carve it in the skin. The Māori peoples are also known for their amazing carvings in wood and bones from animals, as this was the only material they could use at the time. The carvings often follow the same pattern as the Ta moko, and are often carved around their houses. But they also make statues mainly using the colors red, black and white to paint them. These colors has different meanings, like red is symbolic for mana which means power or statues. Red is often used on the important art like on statues and buildings around the marae which is a place where greetings and discussions take place.

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