For the Mentawai tribe, tattooing is a form of artistic expression and also a symbol of social status in society. Additionally, tattoos can also be regarded as a timeless outfit that will be taken off. For typical outfit called the Mentawai tattoo in the Mentawai islands, West Sumatra is usually meet the whole body, from head to foot. Even supposedly Mentawai people tattooing their bodies so that their children after death, they are able to identify their ancestors.
The finished motif drawn then pricked with a needle-stemmed wood. Needles usually use animal bones or wood karai tapered. An injection wooden handle it then beaten slowly with a wooden bat in order to dye into the skin layers. Tattoo dye used is made from a mixture of natural colors, namely
made from sugar cane and coconut shell charcoal. Tattooing starts from palms, hands, feet and body. Tattooed body parts will usually swollen and bleed for a few days.
in addition to a pattern of lines, there are other tattoo motifs are made to follow some specific rules, usually differentiated by the origin of the village or clan. This is due to the function of tattoos as identity and the identity of the Mentawai tribe. Motif also describe self and one's social status or profession. Tattoos are a traditional elders (sikerei) will vary with tattoos who is a hunter.