Maori tattoo legend:  "Mataora and Niwareka"

If we search pictures of Maori people we will see that having “tattoos” in their bodies and most of the time in their faces is something common in their culture, but actually we don’t know the real meaning of them or how important they are for this indigenous from New Zeland.

The Maori people consider that the most important part of the body was the head, that's the reason why we see that the most common was the facial tatto. The special name for this tattoos is "Moko" and everyone of them has a special message, the wearers used them to tell their own stories, women used it in the chin to say that they were bound to a warrior. "Moko" also represented their social structures

A local legend can explain the origin of Maori’s Tattoos. This story says that “Ta Moko” or “Moko”came from the underworld, called Uetonga. A young warrior called Mataora fell in love with the princess of the underworld, Niwareka. One day she came to the earth just to marry him, while they were together Mataora mistreated his wife, so she decided to come back to the underworld. Mataora felt really bad and guilt about what he did, so he decided to follow Niwareka to the underworld to apologize and see her family. Before going to find her he painted his face hoping one day he could get Niwareka's love back. After some days he found Niwareka and her relatives laughed because of Mataora’s appearance, his faces was smudged painted.

So finally she and her family accepted his apologies and Mataora got her love back, before coming back to the earth the king of the underworld, Niwareka’s father taught him the art of “Moko” and then Mataora taught this art to everyone on earth, that’s the Maori’s legend that explain the origin, meaning and the story behind of the tattoos 

Here's a video where you can see The legend of Mataora and Niwareka :