The meaning of tribal tattoos is not to be found in a single chart. Instead, each tattoo has meaning depending on the nation, community, and individual who wears it, as well as when, where, and why it is worn. The meaning depends as much on placement, occasion, and permission as it does on the image itself.
That idea was driven home for me this morning when I saw a picture of a man with what looks like a Hawaiian kākau tattoo. Kākau means both “to write” and “to tattoo.” Before contact with Europeans, Polynesians carved their stories into wood, stone, or bone. When missionaries arrived in Hawaii in 1820, they considered these sacred markings to be sinful and tried to ban them. In 1879, the king of Hawaii outlawed kākau, although he did not enforce the law. But now, artists are reclaiming kākau as a living tradition rather than an artifact of the past.
Kākau symbols often include interlocking triangles that look like shark teeth. Sharks were important to the people of Hawaii because they could protect swimmers from dangerous currents, but also because they were seen as powerful creatures. These triangular shapes are called niho mano (literally “shark tooth”) and represent protection, strength, guidance, and adaptability. They can also represent the ability to change direction, which makes them useful in navigation. A row of enata, which resemble waves, might suggest power, change, continuity, or connection between the living world and the spirit world.
Polynesian tattoos generally represent ancestry, nature, spirituality, and personal achievements. A semi-circular form of enata might represent the sky and ancestors guarding descendants.
Māori and Native American traditions
In New Zealand, Māori have their own traditional tattooing, called ta moko. This practice predates European contact and involves carving patterns into the skin using hand tools made of greenstone, whalebone, and shell. Unlike kākau, ta moko was reserved for the face, and each design had its own specific meaning. The designs were usually applied by men to women and girls, although some men also got ta moko.
Since the 1990s, there has been a resurgence of interest in ta moko. While most tattooists use modern machines to apply the tattoos, many young men and women are reviving the old ways. The older generation of Māori tattooists insists that only they should get ta moko, while younger tattooists say that they have the right to take up the tradition. Since the 1990s, non-Māori have copied Māori designs, but more recently there has been a revival of traditional Māori art, including ta moko, with tattooists inserting their own meanings and themes into the designs.
Other Indigenous peoples also practiced tattooing before European contact, but since no one nation wore similar tattoos, meaning was never universal. At Colonial Williamsburg, we explain that the purpose of a tattoo could be military achievement, tribal affiliation, religious use, medicinal use, or adornment, depending on the community in which the person lived. Tattoos were applied by manual puncture using sharpened bone or rock, and pigments came from soot, minerals, or plant materials. Designs were applied with chisels and punches. Some tribes used dot-and-line patterns to communicate clan affiliations and protective intent in a visual language that was unique to the tribe.
“Native American” is not a style—it is a category that includes many different styles. Like all other indigenous traditions, those of Native Americans are local and distinct.
Modern practice and context
Today’s tattoo artists are drawing from all of these traditions, mixing them together. Traditional Polynesian tattoos were applied by hand, but today most tattoo artists use machines. Artists are creating fine line details that work into geometric tribal patterns, black and gray realism alongside traditional symbols, and full sleeves that weave ocean imagery with ancestral iconography.
As my friend Dr. Rachel Neumann put it on Instagram last week: “The closer you are to a real tribal marking, the more culturally significant the context becomes.”
But generic internet charts mislead us about meaning.