Tribal Tattoos

The Maori tribe tattooing used to be done by striking bone chisels onto the skin. It was time consuming and very, very painful - making it a sacred ritual. The chisel, called uhi, was made from the bone of an albatross. The ink was of two kinds - one from vegetable and a caterpillar, the other from burned wood. It was used to celebrate important events throughout a young man or woman's life - commemorating the passage from childhood to adulthood.

Now that I've provided some background on the art of Maori tattooing, I let you know why. I am....not getting a tattoo haha so breathe easy back home. My two friends Ethan and Mike did however, this past weekend down in Akoroa. As always they wanted to go in drunk but Mikey, the Maori we know down there, said that it would take away from your manhood because your not experiencing all the pain (they were sober during the tattooing). They look so cool and the artist himself was one of the best artists they had ever seen. Two more are travelling down to see him sometime next month to get tattoos of their own...must be nice. So what will one of these cost you? About 3 hours, $120/hour and what may seem like a lifetime of 'Is it over yet?!' They seemed to enjoy it though and definitely love the bit of Maori that's on them now. I guess they're journey into adulthood is complete :)