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Tattoo History - 'Native & Haida Indians'
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15 Jul '03 -
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U heeft er waarschijnlijk met smart op zitten wachten. En anders ik wel! (Waar heeft die mafkees het over?) Over
Dreadloki & Haida's Dinsdag Tatoeage-dag natuurlijk! En vandaag
gaan we smijten met geschiedkundige feitjes over de Native & Haida
Indians. Precies. Aangezien het hier de origine van zijn
nick/screenname betrof, kon Haida zich volledig uitleven. En kwam alras
snel tot de volgende conclusie; "Helaas waren de meeste
indianenstammen met tattoos al uitgemoord voordat de camera werd
uitgevonden. Dus hoewel er genoeg foto's zijn van mensen met een
indiaan op hun arm, zijn er maar weinig foto's van getatoeëerde
indianen." Datzelfde is ook van toepassing waar het de
geschiedschrijving betreft van de vele indianenstammen die Amerika voor
die tijd rijk was. Blijkbaar was er niet veel animo om iets te
vertellen over een paar dode roodhuiden.
Gechiedenis
Most nineteenth century scholars took no interest
in North American native tattooing. In 1909 the American anthropologist
A.T. Sinclair surveyed the literature and noted with dismay that "one
of the great difficulties in treating our subject is that details or
even mention are so often absent when the practice must have been
common. Even the slightest hint is sometimes of value." In his
definitive paper, "Tattooing of the American Indians" , Sinclair
surveyed the records of tattooing in each geographical region of North
America, but in many cases came up only with fragmentary one-liners
such as "The Algonquin tribes everywhere seem to have practiced the
custom."
Some of the most interesting descriptions of pre-Columbian tattooing in
North America were written by l7th century French explorers and
missionaries in Eastern Canada. A typical example is the French
explorer Gabriel Sagard-Thêodat's account of tattooing among the
Hurons, written in 1615: But
that which I find a most strange and conspicuous folly, is that in
order to be considered courageous and feared by their enemies [the
Hurons] take the bone of a bird or of a fish which they sharpen like a
razor, and use it to engrave or decorate their bodies by making many
punctures somewhat as we would engrave a copper plate with a burin.
During this process they exhibit the most admirable courage and
patience. They certainly feel the pain, for they are not insensible,
but they remain motionless and mute while their companions wipe away
the blood which runs from the incisions. Subsequently they rub a black
color or powder into the cuts in order that the engraved figures will
remain for life and never be effaced, in much the same manner as the
marks which one sees on the arms of pilgrims returning from Jerusalem.
Numerous brief references to tattooing are found in writings of 17th
century Jesuit missionaries whose reports were forwarded to Paris each
year and compiled in volumes titled Jesuit Relations . Jesuit missions
were scattered throughout eastern Canada, and missionaries reported
that tattooing was practiced by almost all of the native tribes they
encountered. In 1653 the Jesuit missionary Francois-J. Bressani
reported: In
order to paint permanent marks on themselves they undergo intense pain.
To do this they use needles, sharpened awls, or thorns. With these
instruments they pierce the skin and trace images of animals or
monsters, for example an eagle, a serpent, a dragon, or any other
figure they like, which they engrave on their faces, their necks, their
chests, or other parts of their bodies. Then, while the punctures which
form the designs are fresh and bleeding, they rub in charcoal or some
other black color which mixes with the blood and penetrates the wound.
The image is then indelibly imprinted on the skin. This custom is so
widespread that I believe that in many of these native tribes it would
be impossible to find a single individual who is not marked in this
way. When this operation is performed over the entire body it is
dangerous, especially in cold weather. Many have died after the
operation, either as the result of a kind of spasm which it produces,
or for other reasons. The natives thus die as martyrs to vanity because
of this bizarre custom.
bron: Tattoo History Source Book: North America
Techniek I
In North America, early Jesuit
accounts testify to the widespread practice of tattooing among Native
Americans. Among the Chickasaw, outstanding warriors were recognised by
their tattoos. Among the Ontario Iroquoians, elaborate tattoos
reflected high status. In north-west America, Inuit women¹s chins were
tattooed to indicate marital status and group identity.
Tattoo_Clue_-_Polynesian_and_European_Tattoo_History.pdf
Native American tribes used thorns as their
puncturing needles and soot or berry juice for pigment. Eskimos used
soot-covered thread, which was passed through the skin’s epidermis to
form the pattern.
Techniek II
Eastern Cree men are tattooed
principally on the chest and arms, while women bear lip-chin tattoo
lines. Both practices correspond to the Plains Cree practice. This
style of women's tattoo is found throughout the Labrador and Eskimo
areas. While the Menoltiini use tattoo for curative purposes only, the
technique employed, pricking through a charcoal smear, is the same as
the Plains Cree method. BirketSmith lists both the pricking and
needle-and-thread tattooing teehniques for the Cree, but believes that
the latter method made its way to the Ojibwa, Chipewyan and Cree in
late times, coming from the west where it was aboriginally practised.
The pricking technique is listed for the New England tribes and for
certain Wabanaki peoples also. Bron: Aboriginals.
Stammenindex
Een heleboel stammen
Acolapissa
Southwest natives
Karankawa
Kokopelli (Aanrader! Of all the different ways to describe Kokopelli, perhaps the best is...Fun Loving Native American Scoundrel)
Techniek-uitleg in plaatjes
Nek, armen & borstkas
Borst & schouders
Eskimo kin
Siberian Coast Women
Happy Camper!
Indianen-verering
http://net33.com/tattoo/linda4.jpg
http://www.extremeinktattoos.com/bills_profile/bill8b.jpg
Galerieën
Tattoodesign.com (helaas geen uitvergroting mogelijk)
Native Galery
Native Tattoo
Haida Tattoo
The tattoo in Haida Lore also represents: Obliteration of Good and
Evil, Connection to Water Element, Soul Memory, Creator of the Cosmos,
Having the ability to convert raw matter into stars, planets, etc.,
Breaking down the barriers of the human mind, Controlling rainfall on
Earth, Assisting humans in finding their soul's song, Seeing the
unseen, and Teaching the ability to seal soul fissures and energy leaks.
Haida-Techniek
When first seeing photos of the Haida
tattooing instruments, (collected by ethnologist James G. Swan in 1883)
I was struck by the similarity to Japanese tattooing tools, in
particular, the paint brushes. The Japanese used a stick at least a
foot long with needles poking straight out, firmly attached to the end
with thread. The stick would be grasped at the other end with the right
hand, laid across the web of the thumb, and then using this as a
fulcrum, jabbed into the skin. The paint brush would be held under the
middle joint of the left hand, bristles hovering over the tattoo and
offering a fresh supply of pigment for the tattooist to work from.
The sticks the North Coast Indians used appear much
shorter than the Japanese stick though, perhaps half the length and the
needles were in a looser grouping, not flattened out. I surmise the
Haida would have held them in their right hand, much as we would hold a
spoon, and simply pricked the skin repeatedly using wrist action. I
have seen this method used in markets in the South Seas and Asia. The
loose grouping of the needles would explain the extremely thick lines
evident in the Swan photographs from the 1870’s. I had assumed at first
glance they would have used the paint brushes in the same manner as the
Japanese but I remember reading passages in Swan’s writings where the
pigment would be drawn on the skin and pricked in after, followed by
more pigment rubbed in. This is where the brushes would most likely
have been used. Now at first this may not sound feasible, but it
certainly would work. If, for instance I tattooed a small yellow sun on
the skin and then tried to tattoo in some blue background between the
rays, simply smearing that blue as I wiped the tattoo would force
enough pigment into the fresh wound to give the yellow a greenish hue.
The particle size of black tends to be relatively smaller, particularly
if it is carbon based, (contemporary blacks are in the one to three
micron range), and would be even easier to force under the epidermis.
Our knowledge of Haida tattooing kits has been extremely limited until recently.
As part of my many conversations with Vince Hemingson of The Vanishing
Tattoo, I decided to investigate the possibility that a tattoo kit
existed in a museum collection somewhere: dusty, unused, and lost to
time. Luckily, with some persistence and investigative research, I
uncovered at the Smithsonian what truly seems to represent the last
authentic Haida tattoo kit remaining in the world. It was collected by
ethnologist James G. Swan at Massett, Queen Charlotte Islands, July
1883. Swan authored several Haida tattoo articles for the U.S. National
Museum in the late 19th century, including the illustrated “Tattoo
Marks of the Haida Indians of Queen Charlotte Islands, B.C., and the
Prince of Wales Archipelago, Alaska,” among others. Haida tattooing seemed to be quite rare by 1885.
Traditionally, it was performed in conjunction with the potlatch
commemorating the completion of a cedar-plank dwelling and its frontal
pole. Potlatches entailed the distribution of personal property by the
host (house chief) to those who had performed important functions
in the actual construction of the house. Each gift elevated the status
of the house chief and his family and especially benefited the house
owner’s children. After the lengthy exchange of goods, each child of
the house chief received a new potlatch name and costly tattoo that
accorded them high-ranking status. One of the last Haida potlatches
that featured tattooing occurred in the winter of 1900-01 in the
village of Skidegate. It was witnessed and described by anthropologist
John R. Swanton as follows: "[On the second day] they called them to
put the tattoo-marks on. At once they painted their faces. Those in the
house shouted to the people to come in and look on. When the spectators
were all in, they began dancing, and sang property-songs. Those who
were to be tattooed began dancing. The wife [of the house chief] stood
at the end of the line, wearing a painted hat. When they had sung four
songs, they put eagle-feathers on the dancers [for purification]. The
house was filled with eagle-feathers. Then they stopped. Those who put
the feathers on them were given cloth. When that was over, they had
those who were to be tattooed sit down in front of the chiefs.
Sometimes two took a fancy to be tattooed by the same [artist]. Now
they beat the ground with a baton, mentioned the chief's name, and
said, 'So and so sits in front of you to be tattooed.' Then they began
to put on the tattoo-marks... All that day they spent in tattooing, and
finished it... The nose, lower lip, and ears were also pierced by
members of the opposite clan. They were paid a blanket apiece for it."
Tattoos depicted the crests of the family and included, for example:
land animals (Bear, Wolf, Beaver); sea animals (Killer Whale, Halibut,
Shark); birds (Eagle, Hawk, Thunderbird, Owl) as well as geographical
features (Mountain, Iceberg); celestial bodies (Sun, Stars, Moon) and
natural materials (Copper, Clay, Yellow Cedar). The possession of
crests by a family, clan, or house derived from events that the Haida
recount in their oral traditions, events that account for their unique
identity as a group. Crests explain Haida existence in this world:
linking them to creatures or objects in the natural environment and to
other clans. Crests also chronicle the origin of supernatural and
significant events in the history of the clan. They serve as title to
the object on which they are placed and to the site and geographical
region where these events occurred. Crests symbolize these special
relationships and embody the spirit and being of and in themselves.
Thus, the crest, and the right to use it in stories or in tattoo
ritual, set the particular group and/or individual apart from other
Haida groups while defining their position with respect to each.
Therefore, the right to a crest, the right to use the emblem, was more
valuable than any object, or human body, that represented it.
Traditional Haida tattoos (ki-da) covered the arms, chests, thighs, upper arms, feet, and sometimes an individual’s back.
A typical kit consisted of a stone dish to mix magnetite (black) and
hematite (red) pigments, cedar brushes with crests carved into each
handle, and 4 or 5 cedar batons with various configurations of needles
depending on the desired effect: shading, outlining, fill, etc. Thomas
Lockhart of The Vanishing Tattoo and West Coast Tattoo in Vancouver
recently demonstrated that the Haida kit closely resembles that of the
Japanese hand-poker. Although Haida tattooing practices are all but
dead, the recent resurgence in traditional Haida arts may well foster
and provide new life for the ancient custom. With the assistance of
renowned Haida carver Robert Davidson and Vince Hemingson of The
Vanishing Tattoo, it is our hope to complete the formal arrangements
for a temporary loan of the kit from the Smithsonian’s National Museum
of Natural History to the Haida people themselves. Duplicates could be
made and later utilized by interested artists. This effort would offer
a permanent and lasting solution to the common legacy and historical
roots of Haida communities separated by decades of artificial isolation
from their indelible past.
Bron: Vanishing Tattoo
Meer geschiedenis
http://www.vanishingtattoo.com/charlottes.htm
Plaatjes
Haida-Ugle
Haida_Brac
Face
Crab
Galerieën
Stark Raving Tattoo's
Boston Tattoo's
Haida Galery
Techniek
Haida teken-techniek
Extra!: Hawaiian Tattoo's
Three artists
TnT Tattoo
[Oja, bijna glad vergeten!]
Bij de vorige editie kwam het al te sprake, een loggers tattoo-boek! Nu
dicrimineer ik niet(zo snel) en dus zijn ook niet-loggers van harte
welkom. Dus, alleen voor de ultra-stoere bikkels onder ons, laat een
foto van uw trots + naam & url achter in de reacties en dan ga ik
er iets van brouwen.
Mailen mag uyteraerd ook.
Tattoolog!
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