Lane Wilcken Livres

Tattooing is a very old and spiritually respected art form that has existed in many different cultures around the world. After many centuries of not being practiced in Europe, tattooing was re-introduced to the Western world through the inhabitants of the Pacific Ocean. Beginnning in the 16th century, European explorers came across many people who practiced tattooing as an integral part of their cultures. This is the first serious study of Filipino tattoos, and it considers early accounts from explorers and Spanish-speaking writers. The text presents Filipino cultural practices connected with ancestral and spiritual aspects of tattoo markings, and how they relate to the process and tools used to make the marks. In the Philippine Islands, tatoos were applied to men and women for many different reasons. It became a form of clothing. Certain designs recognized manhood and personal accomplishments as well as attractiveness, fertility, and continuity of the family or village. Facial tattoos occurred on the bravest warriors with names that denoted particular honor. Through the fascinating text and over 200 images, including color photographs and design drawings, the deep meanings and importance of these markings becomes apparent.

When people hear of Maui, they mainly think of the island named after him in the Hawaiian archipelago. In Polynesia, Maui is best known as a superman, a demigod who performed incredible feats of strength like fishing up islands and capturing the sun. His timeless stories are still shared throughout the Pacific Islands as they have been for countless generations. Some islands claim him to be a god, others a semi-divine man, but many count this bold adventurer as an ancestor. For more than two centuries, western scholars have worked to record the tales of this mythic hero from around the Pacific. However, these anthropologists have overlooked and largely ignored the traditions of the Philippine Islands. Yet, hidden within the ancient mythology, extinct tattoos, and dying rituals of the Philippines, lays the powerful impact of a man well known in Polynesia, but nearly forgotten in the Philippines. Lane Wilcken, the author of Filipino Ancient to Modern, deciphers the fragments of the Maui tradition of the Philippines and compares them with what is known in the Pacific Islands to restore a holistic understanding of Maui and the traditions surrounding him. In this groundbreaking work he reveals the actual life history of a world changing progenitor hidden in the metaphors of mythic traditions that still affect us today.