Stories, traditionally passed down through word of mouth, are documented and written down in this series. From the islands of Hawai'i to Aotearoa to Rapa Nui, and all in between, our stories are remembered and immortalized in writing.
Polynesian Leg...
[The origin of the Pe'a, a sacred tattoo of Sāmoa]
Part One
Long ago, a humble chief enjoyed his life in the paradise of his homeland. He reveled in the beauty that surrounded him.
In his comfort, he decided to immortalize the beauty of his homeland and began to design a tatau, a tattoo.
He saw the majestic canoed that traversed the seas expanding the empire of the Manu'a. He saw the flora and fauna giving life and color to the land. The animals within and without the seas, beneath the waves and in the skies. Seeing all of this beauty, he created motifs to represent them and added them to the design.
When he finished, the tatau covered the body from the middle of the ribcage down to right below the knee. Created like pieces of a puzzle, the tatau was completed.
The chief named the tatau after the sacred Pe'a, the flying fox, whose wings serve as a main feature.
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Part Two
The Pe'a became a great treasure of Sāmoa and was deemed sacred and necessary. The men who belonged to Sāmoa received them by the tufugatatau, tattoo masters, as a rite of passage.
When families believed their sons were ready to serve the family and village around the age of 14, they began the trials into manhood. A tufugatatau would accept the upcoming man and gift him the pe'a.
The pe'a was also done in pairs, a reflection of the first tufugatatau, Taema and Tilafaiga.
After the coming of the foreigners who pierced the skies, the missionaries brought about their ways in the Pacific. Throughout Polynesia, the great nations across the waves forbade the art of tattooing, willingly or by force.
However, Sāmoa rejected the outright ban of the practice. A compromise was made between the Sāmoan people and the missionaries. The Pe'a, which was given to every man, was now only gifted to men who held titles, chiefs, matai, and their men that served under them, the sogaimiti.
Only being gifted to those of rank and title, the Pe'a has become a symbol of such. A mark of the sogaimiti, matai, ali'i, or tulafale. In other words, a mark of a man willing to serve their people and knowledgeable of the ways before the arrival of the Papalagi, foreigners. One who holds rank among the people, competent in tradition, and willingly able to perform the duties of a chief.
