rior to the 1840's when Protestant missionaries began to arrive on Pohnpei and the nearby islands, tattooing was a widespread rite associated with adulthood.  Both sexes were tattooed during early adolescence, but the patterns and areas differed. Men were tattooed only on the arms, hands, legs and thighs. In addition to receiving markings on the same areas as men, women were also tattooed on their abdomens, buttocks and on the the fatty tissue around the genitalia.  Unlike some Polynesian cultures, such as the Maori and Hawaiians, Pohnpeians were not known to tattoo their faces or backs.

The tattooing process (pelipel) was quite complex and required the employment of skilled female artists. The subject was taken to a secluded spot where the artists could able to work in peace.  The skin was stretched tight by assistants while the pattern was slowly and painfully applied bit by bit with a special tool⁽¹⁾. The ink, produced from the soot of burnt candlenut⁽²⁾ mixed with oils or plant liquids, was dabbed onto the surface of the skin and onto the tool points.  Then the tool was positioned and hammered vigorously into the flesh. The excess ink was rubbed into the wound. Once the ink was applied, the area was smeared with charcoal and coconut oil to help the ink set. The process often had to be repeated multiple times to create distinct markings.  Several artists might work simultaneously on the same subject for up to a week or more.

The fact that tattooing was an extremely painful ordeal was important in itself.  Pohnpeians were impressed by shows of stoicism and indifference to pain.  The less the subject reacted to the procedure, the more brave he or she was thought to be.  This theme of pain as a rite of passage ran throughout many parts of Pohnpeian life and ceremony.  Men who were engaged to be married also sometimes participated in a similar pain ritual that involved self-mutilation with heated knives.  On some occasions, one testicle was cut off or crushed by a stone to symbolize bravery and manhood.  In a similar spirit, Pohnpei's famous hero, Isokelekel, finally ended his fruitful life by gruesomely castrating himself.  He bled to death in agony, consoled only by the fact that he had acted courageously and had not given into the fear of pain and death.

Today, Pohnpeians no longer receive traditional tattoos.  Discouraged by a century and a half of ethnocentric foreigners, the ritual is not considered important for passage into adulthood.  When ceremonial dances do require tattooed dancers, the patterns are temporarily applied with a marking pen.

HOME --- History | Government | Language | Clans | Land Division | Titles & Prestige | Pohnpeian Identity | The Old Religion | Tattooing

Tattoo patterns were very intricate, dominated mainly by parallel bands of repeating geometric shapes.  Depicted are designs on the hand of a Great Clan woman (right) and patterns based on those of a man from the Black Creature Clan (above). Note that each band of shapes is, in most cases, unique.  It is said that the patterns marked specific Pohnpeian lineages or served as records of clan history.

(1) TATTOOING IMPLEMENTS (below) were rake-like devices that had long handles and a head made up of a bound row of long citrus thorns or sharpened bird bones.

(2) CANDLENUT (Aleurites moluccana) is an indigenous tree species with large leaves and small white flowers.  The seeds were used in creating tattoo ink.  The tree is sometimes known outside Pohnpei by its Hawaiian name 'kukui'.  Pohnpeians call the tree sakan (sah·kahn).

THE TATTOOED IRISHMAN

The most famous foreigner to reside on Pohnpei was James O'Connell, the Tattooed Irishman.  O'Connell arrived around 1827, when the ship he was a passenger (or prisoner) on was apparently shipwrecked nearby.  He and a shipmate were adopted by a local chief's family and lived in the district of Nett for about five years.  O'Connell's book, published after leaving the island, describes in detail how he was completely tattooed in the Pohnpeian fashion.  After leaving Pohnpei, O'Connell traveled to America where he became a famous circus and stage performer up and down the Mississippi and along the eastern seaboard.

• Text by Alex Zuccarelli 2003.
• Image/Photo Credits: Tattoo implement drawn by Edward G. Schumacher of the Smithsonian Institution.  All tattoo pattern illustrations drawn by German anthropologist Paul Hambruch in 1910.  Dancing O'Connell image was a from an advertisement for O'Connell's show in the 1830's (currently held by the Smithsonian Institution). All other images property of Alex Zuccarelli.

 Primary Sources

• Ashby, Gene
  1993. Pohnpei: Island Argosy. Rainy Day Press: Eugene.
• Ashby, Gene, editor and compiler
  1993. Some Things of Value: Micronesian Customs and Beliefs. Rainy Day Press: Eugene.
• Bernart, Luelen, John L. Fischer, Saul H. Riesenberg and Marjorie G. Whiting, translators and editors
  1977. The Book of Luelen. National University Press: Canberra.
• Colletta, Nat J.
  1980. American Schools for the Natives of Ponape. East-West Center: Honolulu.
• Hanlon, David
  1987. Upon a Stone Altar. University of Hawaii Press: Honolulu.
• O’Connell, James F., Saul H. Riesenberg, Ed. 
  1972.  A Residence of Eleven Years in New Holland and the Caroline Islands (1820’s). Australian National University Press, Canberra
• Riesenberg, Saul
  1968. The Native Polity of Ponape. Smithsonian Institution Press.
• Ward, Martha C.
  1989. Nest in the Wind: Adventures in Anthropology on a Tropical Island. Waveland Press, Inc., Prospect Heights.

On-line Resources

• Skin Stories: An On-line Exhibit on PBS