Why did the women of Burma have tattoos on their faces

An Italian by birth, Domenico Puglise has been photographing the world around him for the past twenty years, focusing on social issues. Puglieze travels a lot, and during one of his trips, he visited the remote village of Mindat in Myanmar. Then Domenico was faced with a disappearing tradition that dates back to the XII century - tattoos on the faces of women. He managed to make portraits of some of them, most likely, these are one of the last women in Burma who today live with a tattooed face.

According to legend, tattoos began to be done to disfigure the face. And they were made specifically for the arrival of one of the medieval rulers, who traveled to the north of the country and picked up concubines for themselves. So that the girls did not become his slaves, they began to get tattoos on his face and sometimes his back. And over time, the symbolism of these marks has changed radically, tattoos began to be considered a symbol of beauty. Until the middle of the twentieth century, many girls made ink patterns, until the government forbade this ritual in the 1960s. So today, tattoos can be seen only in women aged, although there are quite young girls.

Watch the video: The Tattooed Face Women of Myanmar (April 2024).