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Maori tattoo designs are quite distinctive, and they originate from the Maori people of New Zealand, where tattooing is considered a sacred art. In this distinctive type of tattooing, you'll find that you'll see a lot of curved shapes and spirals that conform to an intricate and recognizable pattern.

You'll find that while smaller spirals might predominate the design, you can often step back and see them forming a larger pattern in general. Maori tattoo designs often cover the face, though they can be seen on any part of the body.

The legend about how tattooing came to the Maori concerns a love affair between a young man and a princess of the underworld, named Niwareka. After their marriage, the young man beat his wife, and she left, going back to the underworld. The young man suffered greatly to find his princess again and to apologize, but when he got to her father's kingdom, his face was dirty and stained. Niwareka's family mocked him for his appearance, but he persisted, begging his wife to return with him, and when she agreed, he was given the art of tattooing to take back with him.

The traditional Maori tattoo designs that you can see are often very intricate, very highly planned-out works that will take a person's facial structure and personality into account. In Maori society, the tattoo was considered a passport; for men, it would testify to their rank, their ability in physical battle and the regard with which they were held.

In this way, every man could be given the treatment that was his due, and to treat someone who was tattooed in a way that was not in keeping with their rank, then a grave insult could be taken. Maori women were not as extensively tattooed as the men, though they might often evidence a tattoo on their chin, or under their lower lip.

A centrally located forehead tattoo indicated a person's rank, while their birth status would be tattooed on their jaw. Their position could be tattooed around the eyebrows, while the area of the temples was reserved for their marital state. On either side of the face, a man's ancestry was inscribed, with the left side generally being for the father, while the right side was for the mother's family.

Maori tattoo designs are a fascinating tradition, and there is a lot of good information out there on it, so take a look!