According to an ancient Papauan legend, tattooing could be done without pricking the skin and the girls’ blood flowed without pain. Then one day, the tattooist, a woman, broke wind, causing the girl she was tattooing to giggle. The woman was infuriated by the girl’s disrespect and, at the following session, used a thorny twig to prick her skin. The girl suffered great pain as the blood flowed and she laughed no more.

Papuan women were obliged to be tattooed, and they were covered from their feet to the crowns of their heads. A fully tattooed woman was the embodiment of beauty and was only a suitable marriage partner once the tattoos were completed. The women of some tribes even shaved their armpits so they could be tattooed on this sensitive area. Tattoos were so important to the Warops in the west that mothers would keep their daughters out of the sun to maintain the contrast between their skin and the tattoos.