Iban Ink

Earlier today I flipped to the National Geographic Channel and was introduced to the show Taboo. Amazingly the series was showcased a documentary on Tattoos and their meanings in various societies around the world. The first one was about a tribe called the Iban (http://www.larskrutak.com/articles/Dayak/ ). Not only was it interesting hearing about the tribes past in being headhunters but also learning about the symbols and importance of marking their body. "Tattooing was believed to be a sacred activity that was connected to many aspects of traditional Dayak culture". The 'photo below shows the traditional Tattooing method that was used and is still used when marking the Bunga Terung on the shoulder. The Bunga Terung (or Eggplant Flower) was one of the first tattoos a Bornean male would receive and it also showed other tribes/people that ran into them in the forests who and what they were (a form of intimidation for those who knew the markings belonged to the headhunting tribe). 

From Wikipedia (since I don`t have all the documentry quoted or memorized word for word):

The Bunga Terung is a coming of age tattoo which marks the passage of a boy into manhood. The Bunga Terung has a spiral at the center of the eggplant flower the Tali Nyawa, which means the rope of life and is identical to the underside of a tadpole which symbolizes the beginning of a new life.^{[citation needed]}

All the tattoos, following the eggplant flower, are like a diary. A young male would go out on his own to find knowledge and from each place he went to he would get one tattoo to mark not only where he is from but also where he has been. From each place the tattoos have different styles so the regional differences in his tattoos would tell the story of his journeys in life.^{[citation needed]}

Borneo tattoos do not just mark physical journeys. Some represent big life events, such as fathering children etc. For example there is a tattoo a man can have done on his hand called the Entegulun. You can only have this if you have taken heads. Some tattoos can be for protection, for example the tattoos on the throat (Ukir Rekong) are meant to give strength to the skin on the throat, to stop the bearer's enemies from being able to the bearer's head.

Entegulun Tattoo

"According to the beliefs of the Iban, one soul resides in the head and by taking someone else's you capture it as well as their status, strength, skill and power. Thus, it is not surprising that human heads, once taken and preserved, were respected in ritual; their spirits became adopted members of the group that took them and were persuaded to aid their captors in many ways."


This was only a little sliver of knowledge I attained from the show, it went on to introduce me to another tribe in Africa that marks the body with a sharp piece of metal in order to mark the entrance into manhood and acceptance into the tribe. Crazy stuff.