The Snake’s Trove

Fijian culture, begins here; the origin of Fiji is but of a Snake God and onward to its people who have built a reputation of being revolutionary artists, navigators and warriors within the South Pacific. This collection will be exploring iTaukei (indigenous) veiqia (tattoos).

Veiqia (Tattooing)

Come, come, O Spirit, From the ladies of the west; O ladies with the black mouths [tattoos], Give us a fair wind.”

-Chant by iTaukei navigators when sailing home from the east in order to invoke strong winds from the westward.

Talanoa (story) of the Fijian Tattoo

Veiqia (translates to “Tattooing”) has long been embedded in itaukei (indigenous) culture. In Fiji, only women were traditionally tattooed, and this occurred at puberty. In addition the tattoo artist which are called daubati, dauveiqia, dauveisau or matainiqia are always women.

iTaukei oral history states that the first woman tattooed was Adi Vilaiwasa, the daughter of the serpent God; Degei. This tattooing took place in a cave located in the Nakauvadra mountain range in the valley of the upper Wainibuka River in Ra. Oral history also states, that Adi Vilaiwasa had gone through this process, due to shedding her scales. The cave was still a sacred place of tattooing in 1886.

Charles Wilkes, writing around 1840, stated:

‘The women believe that to be tattooed is a passport to the other world, where it prevents them from being persecuted by their own sex, numbers of whom, by command of the gods, would meet them, if not tattooed, and, armed with sharp shells, would chase them continually through the lower regions. So strong is this superstition, that when girls have died before being tattooed, their friends have painted the semblance of it upon them, in order to deceive the priest, and thus escape the anger of the gods.’

Women were tattooed using a batiniqia, an adze-like tool (usually between 12-22cm in length) to which one or more thorns of a lemon tree or a comb of turtle shell or bone, was lashed with their coir strands. In some instances, barracuda or shark teeth, a number of sokisoki porcupine fish spines, rat's teeth (used for Nadarivatu woman) or sewing pins were used. The batiniqia was tapped with a small light stick or small mallet (wau) made of light wood such as Beta. In some Viti Levu hill distrcits vasili (Cordyline terminalis) wood was used, whereas in Lau, where mallets were known as jitolo, hisbiscus wood served the purpose. Cline (1980:7) also recorded the use of a spoon or a stingray tail spike to tap the tattooing tool into the flesh. The variety in materials indicates regional differences, as well as the daubati's resourceful flexibility and creativity while being bound by functionality (Karen Jacobs, 2019)."

The Liku (skirt) and the Veiqia (tattoo)

Typically, once young women had passed the age of puberty, they would receive veiqia, often in the groin and on the buttocks - areas that would normally be covered by a liku (fringed skirt).

-Karen Jacobs from
THIS IS NOT A GRASS SKIRT: On fibre skirts (liku) and female tattooing (veiqia) in nineteenth century Fiji

  • Fijian woman wearing a liku; from the journal of William Clark written aboard Vincennes in 1840

  • Fishing Party; Natives of Gau drawing by James Glen 1854

  • Sketch of Adi Samanunu by Drawn by A.J.L Gordon at Nabulibuligone in the highlands of Vitilevu in 1875

  • Sketch of Likus by Williams (1858)

“Before puberty, young girls were not required to wear a liku. If they wore any clothing they opted for a small liku ni gone (child's liku), made of shredded vau (hibiscus fibre) that left buttocks bare, or a more ephemeral type that they often made themselves of leaves or feather. When a young woman reached puberty, she was dressed in her first proper liku, after receiving her veiqia, her tattooing. There was close connection between liku and veiqia in the process of gendering a female body (Karen Jacobs, 2019)”.

The last known record of marked women dates back to the 1920s and 1930s. Veiqia was banned under British colonial rule when many Chiefs converted to Christianity. However, recently the practice has made a return with projects such as the; “veiqia project” and young indigenous Fijians promoting and advocating for its return to iTaukei culture.