MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 January 1941, Page 2

MAORI MEMORIES

MOKO.

■ Recorded by J.H.5../of Palmerston North

for the "Times-Age.”)

The origin of Moko (tattoo) in men. and in more modified form in women was for mutual attraction in love. This to us appears to be the height of absurdity. Today the Maori jeers, and with good cause, at the caricature effects of women’s hats, lipstick, and rouge used with the same objective, but producing the very opposite effect intended.

Maori men tattoo their faces, hips and thighs, women their lips, chins and eyelids. Each line has a name and tattoo marks are alike in every tribe. Tattoo is the most ancient personal disfigurement and the most universal on record.

In 1691 Dampier brought to England the first tattooed South Sea Islander, who became widely known as “The Fainted Prince." His so-called guardian angel would have earned a vast fortune by placing him on exhibition, but the smallpox scourge then prevalent had no respect for prince or pauper.

The first Maoris to arrive in Ao-tea-roa according to tradition wore not tattooed on the face. Tattoo marks arc said to be copied from the muscular fibres beneath the skin of men and fish alike. As the emblem of a fish is a badge of Royalty in India the inference as to Maori origin is interesting. A skilful tattoo artist in New Zealand has a fame compared with that of a Royal Academy painter in England. The priests were skilled tatlooers and held a monopoly in the arL akin to the right of the clergy in baptism, marriage. and funeral services today. The process was painful and protracted. and songs or stories were chanted to divert attention.