There used to be a traditional style of tattooing in the Filipino mountain province of Kalinga… of these traditional tattoo artists, only one remains — Whang-od. Born in February of the year 1917, Whang-od is 107 years old today and still working as a tattoo artist.
It’s honestly immensely impressive. This woman’s age, her work ethic, the fact she even still exists… you see the Philippines had a lot of tribal warfare, they head headhunters and warriors, until about a century ago. The last of these practices died out only decades ago in some remote areas. Whang-od is the very last one of them. A living relic, reminder of a bygone era… Christian missionaries told the Filipino tribes to renounce their “sinful ways” and adopt Christ. To dress modestly, and to do away with tattoos… the art form and the lifestyle attached to it would have died, as would the stories of the ancestors, if it weren’t for this one woman.
The tribal rules dictate that the arts must be transferred from mother to daughter — Whang-od has no daughters as the young warrior she loved died young and they never married. Breaking with tradition, she is teaching young women from the tribe her ways. Whang-od is from an area so remote that she doesn’t speak Tagalog, the lingua franca of the Philippines; she speaks only Kalinga, her local tongue, and Ilokano, a Northern language that has many speakers in the mountainous area and along the coastline. It’s comparable an Native American being alive today and not knowing a lick of English.
Whang-od single-handedly kept her culture alive. Teaching a new generation. Passing along the ancient art and the stories of her elders. She alone is passing it on. From the original generation of warriors practicing the traditional batik style, only one person remains… and it is her. The last woman standing, a living treasure trove of stories ranging from the American occupation, WWII and the Japanese invasion until the year 2024 where tourists with iPhones seek out her services.
No comments:
Post a Comment