Dai Tattoo Mapping Studies

The Dai nationality is one of the minority nationalities in China, and the Dai people are mainly distributed in the Dai Autonomous Prefecture of Xishuangbanna, the Dai-Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture of Dehong, Pu’er City, Lincang City and other places in Yunnan Province of China. It has a population of1,260,000.In the tattoo history of mankind, most of the nations recorded and inherited tattoo elements and patterns only by way of human bodies, tattoo masters’head memories and oral transmissions. Only the Dai people, including cross-boundary ethnic groups, such as Shan and Thai in Thailand, use tatoo patterns as carriers besides human bodies, that is, using and inheriting tatoo patterns drawn on paper. This is not only the uniqueness of the Dai tattoo, but also the most distinctive feature different from those in other ethic groups’tattoos."Tatoo patterns" refer to various systemized patterns drawn, inherited and used by tattoo masters in the traditional history of the Dai tattoo. They contain various incantations written in Dai, Bali, Burmese scripts, animal, plant and tool patterns and mixed patterns with scripts, geometrical patterns, animal, plant and tool patterns, religious symbols and religious architectures.Based on the literature research, field investigations and tatoo patterns collection, translation and arrangement, the author has finished this paper with the following contents:summarizing and arranging the Dai tatoo patterns and the investigative results; arranging and expounding their contents and features; exploring and studying the conditions related to their drawing, use, preservation, inheritance and spread; reading and discussing their functions and values. In the end of this paper, the author summarizing and analyzing their Particularity and contradiction which form the tatoo Patterns’s regions and causes of their emergence, through the two angles of the religion and the rating ideology. All of these resulted in the formation of a preliminary structure of the studies on tatoo patterns. In addition to the text representation and the theoretical research, About141photos are put into the text of this paper. As a result, this paper will not only offer a visual display of the whole form, appearance and partial features of Dai tatoo patterns, but also help the reader to know the actual condition of tatoo patterns in a convenient way so as to get rich, full and accurate materials related to the Dai tattoo and other studies on ethnic cultures.There are eight parts in this thesis altogether, including:The Introduction part talks about cause of the research, stating the value and meaning of Dai tatoo patterns’study, introducing the literature review concerned, the methodology applied in this interpretation and the content itself.The first chapter mainly talks about the collecting and research on Dai tatoo patterns both in previous literature and in this study. After that, it gives out a definition of Dai tatoo patterns, the object of this research.Chapter two, a large amount of Dai tatoo patterns get translated, organized, classified and inducted, in order to make an entire overview for the readers. Chapter three is a detailed introduction of the drawing instruments, materials, methods of the Dai tatoo patterns, as well as the usage, preservation and taboo of it, through a comparison of patterns and tattoos themselves on body.Chapter Four depicts the inheriting and transmission of Dai tatoo patterns, and analyses the reasons why they can be inherited until now.Chapter Five, the deep analysis is made on the functions of tatoo patterns, pointing our its values on history, aesthetics and collection.Chapter Six, based on the research of previous chapters, from a witchcraft and religious worship perspective, the characteristics of Dai tatoo patterns, contradictoriness, the region and their content are discussed.