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Tattoo History - Australia
Australia
40.000 years ago the Aborigines, the natives of Australia settled on the Australian continent on which over 500 small tribes lived until the colonization in 1788. With the colonization this amount rapidly dropped due to the bloody seizure of the invaders from Europe. Accordingly the culture, the Aborigines crated over the past thousands of years, was also almost extinct but still kept alive today from the last survivors who mostly live in reservations, tourist camps or in regions of the rain forest far away from civilization. Body painting and adorning scars were the center points in this culture. The rituals applied to the mythical forefathers who once walked over Australia, forming the landscape and creating life, in this so called "Dream Time". They could change appearance as they please. One time they were human, another time an animal and another time a plant but they could also be natural phenomenons like clouds, rain or fire. One of those primitive times creatures is manifested in a snake.
In this believe lies the symbolism for the colors of the body paintings. Red, black, yellow and white stand for the four elements. Black is the earth and signification for the traces of fire on which the mythical forefathers camped during the dream time. Red is the blood energy and fire. Yellow stands for liquid, water and the markings on the back of the snake creature. White is for heaven and the air and represents all those ancestors who raised to heaven after their work was completed to look down from the skies as stars.
When the aborigines painted themselves and performed their dancing rituals they assured themselves of the favor and support of their ancestors and were anticipating fertility and growth. During the initial celebrations young men are also circumcised, an incisor is removed and the septum of the nose is pierced so they can wear jewelry later on. On the upper part of the boys bodies they are wearing geometric patterns as a connection to their forefathers. The same patterns are also applied to the dead so their soul can reach the goal of the forefathers, heaven.
