Batik
It’s World Tattoo Day! Though early Kapampángans do not have a recorded tattoo culture unlike their fellow Philippine and Austronesian ethnic groups, the Kapampángan word for “expert”, batikan, survives to attest to a possible precolonial tattoo culture where early Kapampángan experts were tattooed with their achievements on their skin. This may have been lost during the Islamization of Kapampángans right before Spanish colonization. “Batikan” is derived from the root word “batik” or dark spots or marks on the skin, a word which may have been used to refer to tattoos.
BATIK • (buh-TIK)
(1) black spots or marks on a surface (such as the skin)
(2) tattoo
Tagálog (Filipino): batík
Photo: Tattoo of Atin Ku Pung Singsing (Kapampángan children’s folk song) written in Kulitan (Kapampángan traditional script) by Marlon Maristela
Derived Words
BATIKAN • (buh-TIH-kuhn)
expert (This literally means “marked with dark spots” as ancient experts’ achievements were marked or tattooed on their bodies.)
Tagálog (Filipino): batikán
MAMBABATIK • (muhm-buh-buh-TIK)
tattoo artist
Tagálog (Filipino): mambabátok
Source: anakningalaya.wordpress.com
BATIK-BATIK
spotted, speckled, mottled, blotchy
Tagálog (Filipino): batík-batík
Verb Conjugation
mamátik, mámátik, mémátik – to mark on a surface (such as the skin), to tattoo (Actor Focus)
batikan, babatikan, bétikan – to be marked on a surface (such as the skin), to be tattooed (Object Focus)
Example Sentence:
Batikan yang mambabatik. [Kap]
Siya ay isáng batikáng mambabátok. [Tag]
S/he is an expert tattoo artist. [Eng]
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