MUNDURUCU
An old Vietnamese legend tells of people who live by fishing in rivers and coastal waters. Their work is dangerous: water creatures attack them, and lives are lost. When the people appeal to their ruler, he explains that the creatures distinguish between beings of the land and beings of the water.
His solution is to mark human bodies with the forms of aquatic creatures. Tattooed with dragons and water monsters, the fishermen will resemble the inhabitants of the waters and be accepted rather than attacked. The protective markings turn the danger itself into a disguise.
The story belongs to the legendary world of the Hùng kings and Văn Lang, an early Vietnamese kingdom remembered in historical tradition. The name Văn Lang has sometimes been interpreted as ‘Land of the Tattooed People’, although that is not a settled translation.
Elsewhere in mainland Southeast Asia, extensive tattoos cover men’s thighs, hips and lower bodies. Seen from a distance, these dense patterns resemble clothing, giving rise to the expression ‘trouser tattoos’. Historical accounts record such traditions particularly in Burma, Laos and Thailand, with practices varying between communities. They combine decoration with ideas of courage, protection and belonging.
Indochina is used here as Mundurucu’s regional collection name for Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. The Vietnamese origin legend and the region’s varied tattoo traditions are connected themes, rather than one custom followed everywhere.