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HONG
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CANADA
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EUROPE
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THAILAND
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Philippines |
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A festival
of painted people |
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Source: Inquirer |
Author: Vicente S. Labro |
Date: 1999-07-29 |
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THEY stomp, shuffle and swagger.
Sometimes, they gyrate, sway their
hips and flutter their arms. They all
dance with abandon to the rhythm of
the drums.
These painted young people are vying for the top prizes of the
Pintados Festival, held in Tacloban City every June 29 on the
eve of the fiesta. The merry event has been a crowd drawer for a
decade now.
But there is more to the Pintados Festival than just fun. It has a
touch of history, showcasing the way of life of the early
Warays--their work, rites and celebrations.
The natives were called pintados
because of the tattoos that cover their
bodies. This is how the festival got its
name.
Tattooing practices among the Warays
have evolved through the years. Once
symbols of courage and nobility, the
tattoos later became badges of shame
and terror and, very recently, fashion
statements.
A day after Ferdinand Magellan and his
men landed on the shore of Homonhon
Island on March 17, 1521, the first
natives they saw wore tattoos. They
again met painted men on Limasawa Island 10 days later.
Tattooing is part of the rich Visayas culture, particularly those
of Leyte and Samar. The young men and women had their first
tattoos as part of the rites of passage. They added exquisitely
designed markings on the face and body to enhance their
beauty.
Pintados warriors had tattoos as a sort of war records. New
tattoos were added to mark every victorious battle; the more
''war medals'' they had on their skin, the more they were looked
up to in society.
Tribal chiefs had dialect tattoos as emblems of nobility.
All these, however, changed in the 17th century. The Spanish
friars forced the natives to abandon their old religious belief.
They banned the use of tattoos, branding the practice as
savage and evil.
Badges of ignominy
The practice of tattooing resurfaced in the middle of this
century, not in Leyte but in a place where wicked men were kept.
Hardened criminals in the national penitentiary started to sport
tattoos, and they had balisong pisaw and darts as weapons
instead of the Pintado warriors' sundang.
Tattoos, once symbols of courage and honor, then became
badges of ignominy.
The elegant body markings were replaced by tattoos of agila,
cobra, pierced hearts and other figures. The inmates also bore
special marks as gang members of the ''OXO'' ''Sigue-sigue''
''Sputnik,'' ''BCJ'' (Batang City Jail) and ''BSL'' (Batang
Samar-Leyte).
Tattoos became markang rehas or imprints of those who had
served time in prison.
About a decade ago, though, tattooing began to be regarded as
a form of body art, particularly in the West. It soon caught the
fancy of young people in big cities like Metro Manila.
Tattoos are now in color. As a fad, the markings are of different
colors and designs--angels, flowers, small animals, etc. These
are often found around the wrist and on the buttock, face,
breast, thigh or ankle.
Vogue
Tattoos are made by puncturing the design on the skin and
filling the punctures with indelible ink. Sometimes, the process
takes hours, depending on the design.
Among the early people who practiced tattooing were the
Egyptians. The art was also noted in India, Japan, China and
Southeast Asia. Later, it became in vogue in Europe and other
Western countries.
The indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand, the Maoris,
were able to develop the art of colored tattooing. They were
able to preserve their tradition of body tattooing, unlike the
people of Eastern Visayas whose pintados of today use only
water-based paint in drawing the tattoos.
But still, the Pintados Festival never fails to lure thousands of
people to take a glimpse of a glorious past and join in the fun in
Tacloban.
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