Veiqia

Veiqia (Fijian [βɛi̯.ᵑɡi.a]), or Weniqia, is a female tattooing practice in Fiji. The term refers to both the practice and to the tattoos themselves. Women or adolescent girls who have reached puberty may be tattooed in the groin and buttocks area by older female tattooing specialists called dauveiqia or daubati. The practice was common prior to the arrival in the 1830s of Christian missionaries who discouraged it. The practice declined in the late nineteenth century, so that by 1908 to 1910, there was a single remaining tattooist recorded as being active; she was called Rabali. The practice was revived in the twenty-first century, led by the work of a collective of artists known as The Veiqia Project. Museum collections of veiqia artefacts are found in several Western museum collections, as well as the Fiji Museum.

In Fijian culture, the tattoos were considered to heighten a women's beauty. Veiqia were seen as attractive and could be an important factor that enabled a woman to marry. If she died without them, they would be painted on her body after death so her spirit could proceed into the afterlife. Receiving veiqia was highly ritualised, with many regional variations. Preparation for the process could include abstinence from food or from sexual relations, or inducing vomiting to purge the body. The process of tattooing was closely associated the gift of a young woman's first liku (fringed skirt) to wear once their veiqia was complete.

Special caves called qara ni veiqia were historically used for the ritual. Traditional medicines given to the young women varied from region to region and some were part of preparation for the ritual. To break the skin, some tools used included stingray spines, lemon thorns or shark teeth. Inks were made from Acacia richii or Kauri pine. Motifs for tattoos included: turtles and wandering tattlers, pottery and basketwork. The tattooists, known as dauveiqia (also daubati) exchanged the service for masi (barkcloth), tabua (polished sperm whale teeth) or liku.