The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

DECORATIVE ART 251
Kayan women are tatued in complicated serial ^ designs
over the whole forearm, the backs of the hands, over the
whole of the thighs and to below the knees, and on the
metatarsal surfaces of the feet. The tatuing of a Kayan
girl is a serious operation, not only because of the considerable
amount of pain caused, but also on account of the
elaborate ceremonial attached to this form of body ornamentation.
The process is a long one, lasting sometimes
as much as four years, since only a small piece can be done
at a sitting, and several long intervals elapse between the
various stages of the work. A girl when about ten years
old will probably have had her fingers and the upper part
Fig. 65. Fig. 66. Fig. 67.
of her feet tatued, and about a year later her forearms
should have been completed ; the thighs are partially
tatued during the next year, and in the third or fourth
year from the commencement, i.e. about puberty, the
whole operation should have been accomplished.
A woman endeavours to have her tatu finished before
she becomes pregnant, as it is considered immodest to be
tatued after she has become a mother. If a woman has a
severe illness after any portion of her body has been tatued,
the work is not continued for some little time ; moreover,
1 We apply the term serial to those designs in which the units of the
pattern are repeated, or in which the units follow each other in serial order ;
the udoh asu on a Kayan man's thigh is an isolated design, but the design
on his hands is a serial design.