TAIPEI (Taiwan Information) — A photograph of a church in New Taipei Metropolis has turn into common on social media for displaying a fusion of Western and Taiwanese cultures in a statue with indigenous tattoos.
Mason Maas (曹梅森), an American English instructor and Chinese language/English translator, informed Taiwan Information that he captured the picture together with his Samsung Galaxy S20+ whereas visiting New Taipei’s Wulai District on Jan. 19. He mentioned that whereas he was strolling alongside Wulai Previous Road, he noticed the Catholic Sanctuary of Our Girl of Fatima church.
When he took a better look, he observed that the statue of the Virgin Mary had conventional Atayal facial tattoos on her cheeks.
Amongst older generations, ladies of the tribe needed to grasp weaving earlier than they might obtain a tattoo and be thought of an grownup. Males had been anticipated to seize the pinnacle of at the least one member of an enemy tribe to earn the suitable to obtain their distinctive tattoo and thus obtain manhood.
Maas, who has lived in Taiwan for 3 years, mentioned he’s all for Taiwanese tradition, together with the cultures of Indigenous peoples, “so once I noticed such an attention-grabbing mixture of western and Taiwanese tradition I needed to take an image.” On Tuesday (Jan. 25), Maas posted the picture on the social media web site Reddit, the place it rapidly gained 420 upvotes.
Entrance to Catholic Sanctuary of Our Girl of Fatima in Wulai. (Mason Mass picture)