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{{Short description|Fijian female tattoo practice}}
{{good article}}
[[File:Ra_enge,_Fijian_noblewoman,_tattoed_with_veiqia_and_qia_gusu.png|thumb|[[Ra enge]], Fijian noblewoman,
'''Veiqia''' {{IPA-fj|βɛi̯.ᵑɡi.a|}}, or '''Weniqia''',<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-10-05|title=Drawing lines between us all: Julia Mage'au Gray's Melanesian mark-making {{!}} The Spinoff|url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/art/12-09-2019/drawing-lines-between-us-all-julia-mageau-grays-melanesian-mark-making/|access-date=2021-10-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005210854/https://thespinoff.co.nz/art/12-09-2019/drawing-lines-between-us-all-julia-mageau-grays-melanesian-mark-making/|archive-date=2021-10-05}}</ref> is a female [[tattoo]]ing practice from [[Fiji]], where women who have reached puberty are tattooed in the groin and buttocks area by older female tattooing specialists called {{Lang|fj|daubati}} or {{Lang|fj|dauveiqia}}. The practice was prominent pre-colonisation, but it was discouraged in the nineteenth century by missionaries, some of whose activities took place under [[British Empire|British colonial rule]]. By the early twentieth century, there was a single remaining tattooist, known as [[Rabali]], who is recorded as being active between 1908 and 1910. The practice has undergone revival in the twenty-first century, led by the work of ''The Veiqia Project.'' [[Julia Mageʼau Gray]] is a modern {{Lang|fj|daubati}}, who has tattooed modern veiqia to several Fijian women.
For Fijian people, the tattoos accentuated a woman's beauty across the stages of her life.
Special caves called {{Lang|fj|qara ni veiqia}} were sometimes used for the ritual. The traditional medicines given to the young women also varied from region to region: some were part of preparation for the ritual, whereas others healed the skin. A wide range of natural materials were used to make the tools for incision and for the ink. To break the skin, some materials used included stingray spines, lemon thorns or shark teeth. Inks were made from ''[[Acacia richii]]'' or [[Kauri pine]]. In some areas, specific inks and tools were reserved for the veiqia of high status women. Motifs for tattoos included: stars, boats, turtles, ducks, [[wandering tattler]]s, pottery and basketwork. The tattoo practitioners were women, who were paid in {{Lang|fj|[[Masi (Fiji)|masi]]}} (barkcloth), {{Lang|fj|[[tabua]]}} (polished sperm whale teeth) or {{Lang|fj|liku}} (fringed skirts).
Similar patterns to the veiqia were also replicated on barkcloth and wooden weapons. Veiqia had significant cultural impact outside Fiji. According to mythology, {{Lang|sm|[[Peʻa]]}}, a Samoan tattoo practice, is based on veiqia. While there is an important archive of veiqia research at the [[Fiji Museum]], western museum collections hold many more artefacts relating to the practice than do institutions in its country of origin.
== Description ==
[[File:Veiqia_design.png|thumb|Veiqia design (complete), 1876]]
Veiqia is a traditional form of tattooing that was exclusive to women in [[Fiji]].<ref name=":11">Jacobs, Karen. ''[https://
Motifs included in the tattoo designs were based on a range of patterns, reflecting nature and culture. Notes made by [[Anatole von Hügel]] describe the motifs in use in one area
== Ritual ==
[[File:Veiqia_-_female_tattoing_in_Fiji.jpg|thumb|Veiqia
The
Preparations for veiqia varied
Special caves called
Most often, four days after the veiqia was complete, there was a ceremonial feast.<ref name=":8" /> This was sometimes known as 'the shedding of the scales' and was when the scabs over the tattoos would come off and reveal the designs. The feast was often paid for by the family of the man who the tattooed woman was intended to marry.<ref name=":11" /><sup>:47</sup> It was at
▲Special caves called ''qara ni veiqia'' were sometimes used as the location for the ritual.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-10-07 |title=The Fiji Times » Discovering Fiji: Male circumcision and female tattooing in old Fiji |url=https://www.fijitimes.com.fj/male-circumcision-and-female-tattooing-in-old-fiji/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211007153826/https://www.fijitimes.com.fj/male-circumcision-and-female-tattooing-in-old-fiji/ |archive-date=2021-10-07 |access-date=2021-10-07}}</ref> The process could take several weeks, or perhaps months, since it was extremely painful.<ref name=":8" /> Pubic tattoos were made first, then the hips and buttocks.<ref name=":11" /><sup>:46</sup> To support healing, the tattoos were not made all at once, rather work occurred for three days, followed by healing, then a return to the ritual depending on how quickly the skin adapted.<ref name=":11" /><sup>:46</sup>
▲Most often, four days after the veiqia was complete, there was a ceremonial feast.<ref name=":8" /> This was sometimes known as 'the shedding of the scales' and was when the scabs over the tattoos would come off and reveal the designs. The feast was often paid for the family of the man who the tattooed woman was intended to marry.<ref name=":11" /><sup>:47</sup> It was at the feast where the newly-tattooed woman was presented with her first liku.<ref name=":11" /><sup>:48</sup>
== Implements ==
[[File:Veiqia_design_(complete).png|thumb|Veiqia design (complete), 1876]]
The implements used showed regional variations. In the Noiemalu district on [[Viti Levu]] the instrument was called
In the district of the [[List of rivers of Fiji|Wainimala River]] on Viti Levu, a different approach was taken; there, the skin was punctured and ink made from the ''[[Acacia richii]]'' was then rubbed into the wound. This was in contrast to other methods, where a blade was dipped in the ink.<ref name=":6" /> In Rewasau, the ink was made from the [[
For {{Lang|fj|[[qia gusu]]}} (mouth tattoos), an 1878 account on Vita Levu described how a woman's head was held still while lemon thorns fastened to a reed were used to incise either side of her mouth using an ink made from the gum of ''[[
== Cultural significance ==
[[File:Unknown_Fijian_woman_with_qia_gusu_(mouth_tattoos),_Vanua_Levu,_1910-12.png|thumb|Unknown Fijian woman with {{Lang|fj|qia gusu}} (mouth tattoos), Vanua Levu,
For Fijian people, veiqia did not just
The process of acquiring veiqia was undoubtedly painful, and the suffering the women underwent was important to the process, since it was seen that toleration of the pain
[[File:Samoan_tatau_-_tattooing_circa_1895_-_photo_Thomas_Andrew.jpg|thumb|Samoan tattooing c.1895
▲The veiqia designs were geometric and similar to those printed onto [[barkcloth]] or incised onto decorated weapons, such as clubs.<ref name=":6" /> The designs are meaningful and express cultural identity through their forms.<ref name=":7" />
▲[[File:Samoan_tatau_-_tattooing_circa_1895_-_photo_Thomas_Andrew.jpg|thumb|Samoan tattooing c.1895 - supposedly derived from veiqia]]
▲Veiqia had a significant impact on communities outside the Fijian island group, who copied the styles. According to one Samoan tradition, it was two women from Fiji who travelled there, beginning the practice of [[malu]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-01-29 |title='We had no paper, no pens, but we had our bodies': the sacred and symbolic in Pasifika tattoos {{!}} Lagipoiva Cherelle |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/30/we-had-no-paper-but-we-had-our-bodies-the-sacred-and-symbolic-in-polynesian-tattoos |access-date=2021-10-05 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref> Legend states that the women were [[conjoined twins]], [[Taema]] and [[Tilafaiga]], who were the daughters of [[Tokilagafanua]], the shark-god, and his sister [[Hinatuafaga]], the Moon.<ref name="jstor.org" /> In another version, Taema and Tilafaiga travelled to Fiji, where they learnt the art of tattooing from two men Tufou and Filelei, who told them to "tattoo women, but not men", but on the return journey the twins made a mistake and reversed the phrase, leading a tradition of male tattooing in Samoa, known as [[Peʻa|pe'a]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Milner |first=G. B. |date=1969 |title=Siamese Twins, Birds and the Double Helix |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2799261 |journal=Man |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=16-19 |doi=10.2307/2799261 |issn=0025-1496 |jstor=2799261}}</ref>
== Missionaries, colonisation and decline ==
[[File:Nundua,_Fijian_widowed,_tattooed_with_veqia_and_qia_gusu.png|thumb|[[Nundua]], a Fijian widow, tattooed with
With the activities of missionaries and the introduction of Christianity, especially [[Methodism]], veiqia was strongly discouraged, with those bearing the designs reportedly victimised.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=
British colonial administrator, [[Adolph Brewster]], published ''Hill Tribes of Fiji'' in 1922, in which he recalled how when he arrived in [[Rewa Province|Rewa]] and [[Bua Province|Mbua]] in 1870, middle-aged and older women were tattooed, but younger women were not.<ref name="PIM2">{{Cite journal |date=
It is important to also acknowledge that the history and practice of veiqia was largely recorded by people who were not indigenous to Fiji.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-10-
▲It is important to also acknowledge that the history and practice of veiqia was largely recorded by people who were not indigenous to Fiji.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-10-06|title=Resources - The Veiqia Project|url=https://theveiqiaproject.com/resources/|access-date=2021-10-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006194935/https://theveiqiaproject.com/resources/|archive-date=2021-10-06}}</ref> One example is anthropologist [[Anne Walbank Buckland|Anne Buckland]], who published an article in 1888 which discussed the transmission of tattooing from Fiji to Samoa.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Buckland|first=A. W.|date=1888|title=On Tattooing.|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2842170|journal=The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland|volume=17|pages=318–328|doi=10.2307/2842170|jstor=2842170|issn=0959-5295}}</ref> Another example is [[Theodor Kleinschmidt]] who many several drawings of veiqia, using them as evidence that the patterns created by inland inhabitants of Viti Levu were more elaborate than those of coastal communities.<ref name=":11" /><sup>:106</sup> Women he drew included: [[Ra Enge|Ra enge]] and her veiqia, qia gusu and other body modifications; [[Nundua]] and her veiqia and qia gusu.<ref name=":11" /><sup>:140</sup>
== Museum collections ==
[[File:Laniana_and_a_map_of_her_back_tattoos,_1875-1876.png|thumb|
During the nineteenth century, {{Lang|fj|liku}} and records of veiqia began to be collected for museums primarily by non-Fijians. As anthropologist [[Karen Jacobs]] has observed "the tattooed body is hard to collect", so the practice is recorded through illustrations and the objects related to its practice. The largest record of veiqia was made by [[Anatole von Hügel]], who became the first curator of the [[Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge|Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology]] (MAA) in Cambridge (UK), where
In 1981, the then director of the [[Fiji Museum]], [[Fergus Clunie]], and his colleague [[Walesi Ligairi]], recorded the veiqia of five eighty-year-old women at [[Vanua Levu]]. The women were all tattooed between 1908 and 1911 by [[Rabali]], who was
The [[South Australian
== Revival and ''The Veiqia Project'' ==
[[File:Fiji_Museum_in_Suva.jpg|thumb|[[Fiji Museum]], Suva]]
In 2015, curators [[Tarisi Vunidilo]] and [[Ema Tavola]], alongside artists [[Joana Monolagi]], [[Donita Hulme]], [[Margaret Aull]], [[Luisa Tora]],<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|date=
Working as a collective, under the title ''The Veiqia Project,'' the group travelled to [[Suva]], Fiji, to examine museum collections and speak to community leaders there.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-10-05|title=Artists Meet To Revive Fijian Art of Tattooing|url=https://fijisun.com.fj/2015/09/18/artists-meet-to-revive-fijian-art-of-tattooing/|website=[[Fiji Sun]]|access-date=2021-10-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005205732/https://fijisun.com.fj/2015/09/18/artists-meet-to-revive-fijian-art-of-tattooing/|archive-date=2021-10-05}}</ref> Artworks and interpretation produced by the project were exhibited at the St Paul Street Gallery in Auckland (New Zealand) in 2016.<ref name=":3" /> In 2017, the collective held an exhibition on veiqia at the [[Fiji Museum]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-03-08|title=Exhibiting iTaukei Women's Tattoo Lost In Time|url=https://fijisun.com.fj/2017/03/08/exhibiting-itaukei-womens-tattoo-lost-in-time/|website=Fiji Sun|first=Mere|last=Satakala|access-date=2021-10-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005205943/https://fijisun.com.fj/2017/03/08/exhibiting-itaukei-womens-tattoo-lost-in-time/|archive-date=2021-10-05}}</ref> A further instalment of the collective's work, curated by Luisa Tora, was exhibited in Christchurch in 2021, and was entitled ''iLakolako ni weniqia: a Veiqia Project Exhibition.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|date=2021-09-21|title=Traditional Fijian female tattooing marked out in new exhibition |publisher=University of Canterbury|url=https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/news/2021/traditional-fijian-female-tattooing-marked-out-in-new-exhibition-.html|access-date=2021-10-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005125527/https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/news/2021/traditional-fijian-female-tattooing-marked-out-in-new-exhibition-.html|archive-date=2021-10-05}}</ref>''
The work of ''The Veiqia Project'' has sparked a revival interest in the tattooing practice, and a number of younger Fijian women in particular are adopting the veiqia; twenty-first century dauveiqia include [[Julia Mage’au Gray]].<ref name=":4" /> Ema Tavola also designed a tattoo for Margaret Aull to mark the death of her grandmother.<ref name=":11" /><sup>:158</sup> As of 2022 eight women were known to have full veiqia markings, all of which had been created by Mage'au Gray.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Macawa ni Vosa Vakaviti with Emmaline Pickering-Martin - The University of Auckland |url=https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2022/10/05/emmaline-phd-journey.html |access-date=2024-09-23 |website=www.auckland.ac.nz}}</ref> Stewart is the great-great-granddaughter of [[Bu Anaseini Diroko]] who was tattooed in the early twentieth century.<ref name=":2" />▼
▲The work of ''The Veiqia Project'' has sparked a revival of interest in the tattooing practice, and a number of younger Fijian women
== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}
== External links ==
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[[Category:Culture of Fiji]]
[[Category:Tattooing traditions]]▼
[[Category:Tattooing]]▼
[[Category:Fijian women]]
▲[[Category:Tattooing]]
▲[[Category:Tattooing traditions]]
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