In Samoa,when a boy was to become a man, he was put to the ultimate test, the pe'a. The pe'a traditionally, was tattooed on a boy when he was ready to become a man and was done to test and push the boys pain tolerance. It was also to protect the boy for his life as a man. Each design was significant and were based off of different things in nature that inflicted pain.
For this Pe'a that I started on a friend of mine with the help of my mentor, Rodney Powell, the meaning for it is the same but the designs are a little different. Traditionally, the pe'a is tattooed from top to bottom so that is what we did as well. The first element is always the wa'a which represents the journey. This wa'a is based off of the Hawaiian style wa'a with traditional Filipino designs incorporated with in it.
This tattoo is and will be symbolic for the both of us because it is his first tattoo as well as my first tattoo of this magnitude. Malo Kupaianaha! Congratulations on the beginning of your journey.
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