Cultural Experience Series - The Samoan Pe'a

Today were going to focus on traditional Samoan tattoo's. Samoa is know worldwide as the culture with the longest practice of traditional tattooing, it is often seen as one of the arts birth places. Today this art is practiced as vibrantly as it ever was and certain professionals still hold true to the ancient method - the use of boar tooth combs.
Samoan men and women have their own respective cultural ta too, the 'pe'a' for men and the 'malu' for women. These are both located in the midsection, for men it starts above the belly button and covers almost every nook and cranny down to the lower knee cap, womens starts at the upper thigh and sprinkles down in a star shaped pattern to their lower thigh as well. These were usually acquired with a partner, either man or woman, and were seen as a right of passage in to adulthood. What a passage it is, this is no simple walk in the park. Most pe'a take upwards of a week, 4 hours a day.
In order to create a closer bond with the culture many Peace Corps have turned to this unique tradition, most dont get the full pe'a but do get some ink using the boar tooth combs. The current god father of this practice in Samoa is a legendary man named Suluape. He is world renowned and has been inducted into The Amsterdam Tattoo Museum. This is the man you wand behind the tooth...he is an artist, Samoan, 30 practitioner of the trade.....and is very clean and safe.

Suluape is the man that Sarah Swanson and I would seek out to quench our curiosity. We both walked away water logged to say the least.......pictures and captions below:

Three is a party.

I went first and told the creative genius to work his magic...no other instructions. Thats how he likes it. He said he doesnt keep books of his past work like other tattoo artists because it would impede his originality. He wants every piece to be unique. This pic is of the tools and the fist few taps on the back of my arm.
One...two...3 hours later and its starting to come together. I've been moved from my stomach to my side and Suluape is having a great time shoving his elbow into my face as he tap..tap..tap's away. This is VERY painful to say the least...i cant stress that enough.

4 hours and 12 menthol cig's later and the master can see this emblem of Samoan culture come down the stretch. Blood, sweat, and a lot of cringing (no tears). I have yet to see what hes put together for me...absolutely in the dark. It was amazing to hand something so permanent over to a stranger...i trusted those steady hands from the beginning.

This is the MAN, Afioga Suluape. He's made his way through Sarah's spine here...almost finished with another permanent souvenir and he takes every one very seriously. Here he is reprimanding Sarah for kicking a fly off her leg and making him miss-tap...that fly will always be apart of her through that almost unnoticeable arrant line.

Sarah final shot. Sorry there isnt a better picture. It works its way from the beltline up to mid back. Pretty big. A 45 minute battle.

Minutes after and thats the smile of a very happy man. Sweet tattoo parlor huh!

This was an incredible experiance that will be with me for the rest of my life....HAHA. Im really happy with how it turned out, Sarah as well, and would love to hear some of your reactions. Also, our friend Dane got inked the day before we did..check his out on the blog attatched to this page. His is a replica of the male pe'a from the waist up. Pretty awsome.

Mom-you've been asking for a blog entry for a while. I hope you like it and i love you.