Magical powers, healing properties, markers for the afterlife... these are the legends around ancient tribal tattoos. And you can get one too.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00I am Mon Aga, I am trying to revive traditional tattoos.
00:30We use thorns, natural thorns as the needle, we tie them together with natural fiber, we
00:46extract ink, the soot and mix it with carriers like rice beer, tea, another liquid, we use
00:56some special leaves that has antiseptic property for wiping because we don't have tissues,
01:02remember back then.
01:03It's all connected, it has the capacity to heal, it has the capacity to inspire, it has
01:24the capacity to heal, it has the capacity to inspire, it would also mark the transformation
01:54stages from a young girl, to teenage, to adulthood, to getting married, to becoming a mother.
02:24It is complete bullshit because in their fascination for stories like that, they completely forget
02:49that men also have tattoos on their chin, you know, so who were kidnapping the men,
02:54you know, the other tribe's women came down because they were the most handsome ones.
03:08It also talks about their spiritual beliefs, sometimes it is ornamental, sometimes rites
03:16of passage, sometimes marks your identity, your status, the achievements that you have
03:22made in life, and there are so many different reasons why the Naga people used to tattoo.
03:27Harrington is just one aspect of it, they have meanings, those are not random lines,
03:41a lot of it is already lost, but whatever is left, we are trying to recollect it, and
03:47unfortunately, it is the loss of indigenous aesthetics.