Man
December 10, 2009
He was completely sloshed by 9.30 in the morning. I was admiring his tats until I got within a few feet of him and the waft of langkau permeated the expanse of air between him and I.
He seemed to think that I was deaf, and that my ears were on my nostrils. And so he yelled into my nose.
Still, I think his his tats are cool. Wonder what bejalai stories they hold.
Body Art Beautiful - More Than Skin Deep
June 3, 2009
At least 5,000 years ago, humans have been marking their skins for spiritual, religious, medical, artistic and a host of other reasons. Tattoo, from the Polynesian word “ta”, meaning to “to strike something”, and the Tahitian word “tatau”, which is “to mark something.
Tattoos are as diverse as the people who wear them. The Pazryks of ancient Siberia tattooed themselves with griffins and magical monsters, believing the act to be magical. Egyptian princesses were known to have tattooed dots and dashes in geometric patterns on their bodies. The Japanese, the Maoris and other Polynesians, Bornean indigenes, Indian haruman, Thai monks, Greek aristocratic women, Celtic woads. Rites of passage, a form of beautification, spiritual links, religious cleansing, personal freedom, commemoration of acts of bravery, declaration of status and rank. The list is endless. Who started it? Who spread it? The cows will come home and we’d still be arguing. The oldest known tattooed individual was a man believed to have lived 5,000 years ago in the mountains between what is now Austria and Italy. He had 57 tattoos, including a cross on the inside of his left knee.
A thousand words for a thousand reasons are given for the culture of tattooing. But they are all really the same - tattoos are about personal journeys towards self-realization, whether it be an anchor on a forearm or a traditional tribal piece.
Tattoos are wonderful things if they are well thought out, well planned and meaningful. They are personal and permanent mementoes that we gather as we roll through life. But what happens if you need to erase a tattoo. Maybe you thought you wanted it, but it didn’t look as good on skin as it did on paper or in your head. Maybe you were not ready for it for spiritual reasons. Maybe you don’t love yourself enough to have it yet. You could have planned it for years, but at the end of the day, you just could not jive with it. That’s OK. No regrets. Everything about life is a lesson in change. I plan in advance of at least 2 years for every tattoo I have. The last one was planned in advance two years before. It was imagined, envisioned, discussed with my cousin and long-term tattoo artist (who, incidentally, is one of the best in Kuching). And when it got done two years after, I had to have it taken off. Main reason: I was not in sync with myself enough to own it. Strange words. Food for thought, but the philosophy holds that if one is not at peace or one with oneself, tattoos are the last thing one should do to oneself. This particular piece was bigger than my self could handle. To the world, trivial excuses were given - it was hard to hide at work, the family was displeased. Fill in the blanks.
Ten years of traditional and modern tattooing methods, I would now enter the realm of taking one tattoo off. (Left: Fresh, before any lasering).
In a nutshell, the process of tattooing is to use a sharp instrument to insert a foreign substance beneath the surface of the skin, often beyond the first few layers of skin. Traditionally in Sarawak, this is soot. Today, good tattoo artists use high quality organic inks imported from the UK or US. Black inks are black because of the carbon (organic) content. Coloured inks are coloured because of the metals in them - red inks often contain iron, green inks copper and so on. Yes, there is pain involved, but a good sort of pain, many reckon.
Tattoos take hours to complete, from conception to inking. Reversing the tattooing process is far more tedious, involves a different kind of pain, and is a journey in patience. The internet spews up a variety of methods, from cutting the skin away, using salt to abrade the skin (salabrasion) to magic creams that claim to fade the tattoo off. These methods are either ineffective or produce horrendous scars. By far the most effective and guaranteed scar-free way of tattoor removal is by lasering the ink off. The main aim of laser tattoo removal is to remove tattoo pigment without damaging the layers of skin above. Lasers cause the ink beneath the skin to break into minute fractions. These pop out of your skin or are absorbed by your immune system. This is why tattoos fade ever so slowly when lasered off. Your body absorbs the ink bit by bit. It takes at least three weeks before any noticeable blurring of the ink. It also takes more than one session for the ink to fade completely. My tattoo was only a dotted outline. Even so, I am on my third (and last) session and the dots are still visible. The longer one waits in between sessions, the better, because this gives the body time to process out the fragmented ink.
There are a number of lasers out in the market. The best type for black ink and dark skin is the Medlite Q-switch laser. This machine costs RM365,000 and there is only one doctor in Kuching who has it. He cringes when I walk in because it is a LOT of work for both of us to go through my arm and we both know the punishment the machine is about to go through. During the first session, he went easy on me with a low level beam; but increased it to level six by the third session. My arm went from looking and feeling sunburnt during session one to looking and feeling mangled by session 3. Within a week, all the scabs had fallen off and pink baby skin started to peep out from the red area. Three weeks later, more fading. From experience, the ink will continue to fade over the next six to 12 months. It is truly a test of patience. There are no permanent scars. Indeed, the lasered skin feels smoother than ever (lasers are used for skin enhancement, after all). My journey of tattoos has taken an interesting detour at this juncture. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I can have hours of conversations about it, sit by the fireside when I’m old and wrinkled and wow little children with stories about it. More importantly, it’s brought me further along the journey of rediscovering myself. (Left: Week 9 after session one, right before session 2).
More detailed information about laser tattoo removal can be found at Matt Hough’s personal experience here.
Notes: The author has done a third session and the tattoo has faded a great deal more.
Chinese New Year, the Cynful Version
April 26, 2009
The Chinese new year, celebrated by Chinese people worldwide, is actually based on the cyclical rotation of the moon, and so is probably more accurately referred to as the lunar new year. Vietnamese and Korean people celebrate their new year on the same lunar calendar. It matters not where you are in the world. You do something on the eve of the Chinese New Year or the first day, one way or another. In Malaysia, it’s the biggest celebration for Chinese people.
Like the current Gregorian calendar we use today, the Chinese lunar calendar is based on a 12-month cycle. Because it is based on the cycle of the moon, the first day of the first month of each lunar year never falls on the same day. The beginning of the year can fall anywhere between the beginning of January to the third week of February. In 2009, the first day happens to be 26 January. A complete cycle takes 60 years.
Legend has it that Buddha summoned all animals to him for a farewell bash before he departed the earth. Just as expected, not everyone wanted to be at that party. Only 12 furry friends showed up. In order, they were: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. Would I be peeved if my friends didn’t show up for my farewell do? Hell yeah. Buddha was not pissed off but was zen in his wisdom. So what does he do? He rewards the animals who came to honour him by naming a year after each, in order of appearance. So 12 animals rule each year of this 12-year cycle. This year is the year of the Ox. My year. I was born in ‘73. I’ve had three cycles so far. Chinese people believe that the characteristics of whichever ruling animal for the year will have a profound influence of the person born in that year. This is the animal that hides in your heart, whatever year you were born in.
It’s Chinese mythology. It’s tradition and history; and it’s fun. It matters not whether one is Buddhist, Hindu, Christian or Moslem Chinese. This is the stuff of all things Chinese, a people with recorded history stretching over 3,000 years and folklore for about 5,000 years. And roots do run deep. Roots do run deep, especially Chinese ones. For all people, there is always a link to the stuff of their homelands, Chinese people to their traditions; people from the Mediterranean to Greek mythology and Roman gods, others to their Norse legends and Celtic folklore, or African roots. It is nothing to do with faith or religion. It is merely diversity in the midst of one humanity.
Chinese belief also extends to Yin and Yang, which in a nutshell, refers to the female- and male-ness of the world. The concept of Yin and Yang is another entry in itself. Suffice it to say in this entry that Yin and Yang are divided into five elements found on earth: metal, earth, fire, water and wood. These are actually names that the Chinese have for the five major planets in Chinese astrology: Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Saturn.
Venus - Metal
Jupiter - Wood
Mercury - Water
Mars - Fire
Saturn - Earth
The movements of these five elements with the moon and year is said to influence a person’s destiny. Here we venture into the opaque waters of Chinese astrology, the rules of which I do not understand nor adopt as my belief. But my point of bringing up Yin and Yang and the five elements is because, I wanted to point out that 2009 is the year of the Golden Ox.
What does that mean? I have no idea. It just has a nice ooh-aah factor to it. It’s the year of the Golden Ox. Oooh. Aaah.
There.
Going back to Chinese New Year. Here is what has been transpired from my ancestors to me. The eve of Chinese New Year is called Ji Kau Meh (29th Night) or Sa Chap Meh (30th Night), depending on whether there’s 29 or 30 days on that particular 12th month of the year. On this night, there is a huge reunion dinner for all Chinese families. It’s when everyone comes back home. It’s like Thanksgiving or Christmas. This is big. It cannot be emphasized as to how big this is.
Then right before midnight, everyone gets out their illegally procured big kahuna fireworks and firecrackers ready. I love this. No matter how often the authorities say this is illegal, you can always find a friendly neighbourhood black marketeer to supply you with all the fireworks you want. The police never catch anyone. The whole town lights up. This is the Gaza Strip with empty shells. Noise, colour and smoke. This is also when I sedate one of my dogs because she’s so scared of the noise. This is done to scare away all the bad spirits and bad luck of the old year, and to welcome the new one with a bang. And what a bang. In my neighbourhood, the smoke lingers long after the noise.
There are 15 days to the celebration of Chinese New Year. There’s a meaning to each day, although much of the significance is lost, except to the devoutly traditional, or to devout taoists. The first day is the welcoming of the gods of the heavens and earth; the second is when the Chinese pray to their ancestors (not for Chinese of other faiths), and so on and so forth. On the home front, there’s visiting galore. I visit your house, you visit my house. She visits his, they visit ours……you get the drift. There’s red packets with money inside, there’s lion dances and dragon dances, lots of specialty CNY cakes and goodies. It’s busy, busy, BUSY for many Chinese families.
On the 15th day, Chap Goh Meh, there’s another big dinner to celebrate the entire event. Again, it’s a family thing, close friends welcomed if they don’t have their own family do’s.
And there, in a nutshell, is a very very summarized piece on Chinese New Year from the Wordsmith. Don’t make me go into the significance of different dishes on the menu and what we actually do.
Of Mooncakes and Lanterns
April 26, 2009
The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month every year. Chinese people worldwide celebrate it. In 2008, the 15th of the 8th happens to fall on 14th October. There is no autumn in Malaysia. But there are lots of mooncakes around, being the nation of hobbits that we are. So at my house, there’s usually a dinner, mooncakes and lanterns. Anything involving food and lots of family is always a plus in my book.
Legend has it that there once was an immortal called Houyi. He had a beautifully stunning wife, Chang’e, who worked in the Jade Emperor’s (Emperor of Heaven) Palace as the attendant to the Queen Mother of the West (wife of the Jade Emperor). One day, Houyi aroused the jealousy of the other immortals, who then slandered him before the Jade Emperor. Houyi and his wife, Chang’e, were subsequently banished from heaven, and forced to live by hunting on earth. He became a famous archer.
In those days, there were 10 suns circling the earth, in the form of three-legged birds residing in a mulberry tree in the eastern sea. Each day, one of the sun birds would have to travel around the world on a carriage, driven by a deity. One day, all 10 of the suns circled together, causing the earth to burn. Emperor Yao, the Emperor of China, commanded Houyi to shoot down all but one of the suns. Upon the completion of his task, the Emperor rewarded Houyi with a pill that granted eternal life, and advised him: “Make no haste to swallow this pill; first prepare yourself with prayer and fasting for a year”. Houyi took the pill home and hid it under a rafter, while he began healing his spirit. Houyi was summoned again by the emperor. Chang’e, noticing a white beam of light beckoning from the rafters, discovered the pill, and swallowed it. Immediately, she found that she could fly and began to fly out the window and towards the sky.
With a bow in hand, Houyi sped after her, and the pursuit continued halfway across the heavens. Finally, Houyi had to return to Earth because of the force of the wind was too great for him. Chang’e reached the moon, and breathless, she coughed. Part of the pill fell out from her mouth. Now, there was a hare on the moon, and Chang’e commanded the animal to make another pill from it, so that she could return to earth to her husband.
The hare is still there, pounding herbs, trying to make the pill. As for Houyi, he built himself a palace in the sun as “Yang” (the male principle), with Chang’e as “Yin” (the female principle). Once a year, on the 15th day of the full moon, Houyi visits his wife. That is why, on that day every year, there is a perfect full moon in the sky.
Well, that’s the story I heard, anyway. There’s at least 5 other versions of the story, including one that has Mongolian rebellions and hiding secret messages in mooncakes and holding out lanterns on the day. But I’m too lazy to type all that out today.
N.B. Sources of Houyi story: my family and Wikipedia.