“It was for fancy” I paused for a second and burst out laughing. My sisters and I had always imagined that the dark pattern on Granny’s right arm, was filled with symbolism of the ancient, Edo folklore and wisdom.
“Yes, it was for fancy” she continued, “This was early 1950s or so, it became popular” She went on to say that her mother got a lot of tattoos from her neck downwards but it was because they loved the patterns and could endure the pain.
Back then in her town in Akoko-Edo, close to the Ondo border, women from the neighbouring state would come in to ply their trade as tattoo artists. So, most of the young women got the tattoos to beautify themselves.
My grandmother decided to get one to see how it would look. Back then there were two main methods, needles or knives. She took the needle option and choose a lace pattern for the tattoo. Immediately the artist started the procedure, my grandmother stopped it as it was more painful than she imagined, a bunch of needles dipped in ink breaking her skin. But the tattoo artist not wanting to spoil her brand, held on to my grandmother until she had finished. My grandmother did not get another one.
“Ah it was painful” She reminisced. I chuckled.
