Tattooing in Burma

A Bamar man, 1912.

Tattooing in Burma was a widespread custom practiced by various ethnic groups, including the Bamar, Shan, and Karen, until the 20th century. Tattooing was a distinguishing cultural marker. For instance, the Arakanese people who are related to the Bamar did not practice tattooing.^[1] Similarly, the Mon people did practice tattooing, but did not tattoo their thighs unlike the Bamar.^[2]

Pigments

Burmese tattoo pigments traditionally used diluted red mercury sulphide and soot from an oil lamp.^[3] For black pigments, the soot was mixed with the dried gallbladder of fish or cattle in powder form, boiled in water and simmered with the leaves of bitter melon.^[3] A product was reduced to paste form and dried until usage.^[3] A greenish tinge was produced by dabbing the pierced areas of the skin with leaves of Senna siamea or Brugmansia suaveolens.^[3]

Tattooing among men

Nearly all Bamar men were tattooed at boyhood (between the ages of 8 and 14),^[4] from the waist to the knees.^[5] The tattooed patterns were ornamented pastiches of arabesques and animals and mythical creatures, including cats, monkeys, chinthe, among others.^[1] For the Bamar, tattooing of the waist, done with black pigment, was done before or soon after temporary ordination into monkhood, a major rite of passage for men.^[1] Other parts of the body were tattooed with red pigments.^[1] Among the Shan, blue or red pigments were especially popular, as were charms and cabalistic figures similar to yantra tattoos.^[4]^[6]

Tattooing was a painful procedure that required extensive use of opium used as a painkiller.^[4] A professional tattoo artist (မှင်ကြောင်ဆရာ or ကွင်းဆရာ) used a hnitkwasok, a long two-pronged brass or iron instrument with a 2 inches (51 mm) slit similar to a double-pointed pen, to pierce the skin.^[1]^[4] Completion of the tattoos took from 3 to 6 days.^[4]

Origins

Among the Bamar, the custom of tattooing originates from the Shan people, who believed that tattoos had magical or spiritual connotations, used in a similar manner as amulets and protective charms.^[7] This practice coincided with the Shan States' control of Upper Burma from the 1300s to 1600s, as the Shan, themselves tattooed, introduced this practice to the Bamar.^[8]

However, with the onset of colonial rule in Burma, the practice of tattooing quickly became extinct, particularly in Burmese towns.^[8] During the 1930s, tattooing saw a resurgence in popularity among rebels who participated in peasant and millennial uprisings.^[9] Men tattooed themselves to provide immunity to bullets and knives.^[9] The practice of tattoo is regaining popularity among Burmese youth.^[10]

Tattooing among women

A tattooed Chin woman, 2009.

Southern Chin women were also tattooed on their faces with closely set lines using blue pigments, ostensibly to discourage them from being kidnapped by invaders.^[11] Chin women were typically tattooed between the ages of 15 and 20.^[12] The practice has quickly disappeared, as it was banned in the 1960s by Burma's socialist regime and it was discouraged by Christian missionaries.^[13] Mro women also wore tattoos in the form of small marks or stars on the cheek, forehead or breast.^[1]

References