As soon as this woman appeared, the supermodel superstars all had to step aside.
The Philippines' "Vogue" was sealed in April, inviting out the 106-year-old tribal tattoo queen -
Apo Maria（Whang-od）。
Silver hair wins frost, red lips bloom blood, domineering tattoos like dragon scales, crawling all over the body.
In the mountains of the northern Philippines, her mysterious legend is circulating.
She was revered as "The Last Lady of Thorns."
Or to put it more bluntly: Mary, the living goddess.
On a rainy night 100 years ago, a teenager covered in blood walked into Maria's home.
Today is his rite of passage: exchange a human head for a tattoo.
In the eyes of modern people, tattoos are hipsters' ruthless, aesthetic symbols.
But in the Cagarin of the Cordillera Mountains of the Philippines, "the tattoo is the supreme glory of the warrior, a talisman forged by the blood of the tribesmen." ”
"My father is the most powerful tattoo master in the tribe."
Maria said proudly, the tattoo on her neck like a breathing beast.
In the tribe, tattooists, known as "Mambabatouk", tattoos, have been passed down from men to women for hundreds of years.
"But I'm an exception."
Maria was beautiful and talented, and she had already tattooed her first tattoo when other children were still playing with mud -
A spooky python.
In tribal mythology, the python is a sign of a goddess falling in love with a mortal hero.
This haunted Mary throughout her life.
Gifted and the eldest daughter in the family, with the support of her father and elders, at the age of 15, Maria became Kagarin's first woman, Mambabatouk.
In the dialect, Kagarin means "outlawless."
They are the only tribe in Philippine history that has not been directly ruled by a foreign state.
Whether it was Spanish or American rule, even the bullet-ridden World War II, Kagalin's headhunters made the invaders fearful.
Maria recalled: "During World War II, soldiers who beheaded Japanese invaders would have goshawks with wings tattooed on their chests. ”
"At night, tattooed torches light up half the village." Like a winding dragon.
This became her eternal pain.
"My lover is dead."
The 106-year-old Mary whispered, as if telling a distant and poignant legend.
Her first love was a teenager named Ann.
He is handsome and combative, the goshawk soars to the chest, she is beautiful and intelligent, and the python coils around the ankle.
The candlelight of the tattoo burned the eyes of the warrior and the maiden, and he vowed to marry her home.
It's a pity that because An's blood is not pure, the tribal elders ruthlessly broke up the pair of lovers.
At the age of 25, Ann died tragically under the Japanese gun, and the bullet also hit Maria's heart.
On this day, she swore to heaven:
Do not marry for life.
As soon as these words came out, the elders almost fell to their knees.
Mambabatok's tattoo secret can only be passed on to biological offspring, which means that centuries-old traditions will be lost in Maria's generation.
But Maria stroked her wrist and smiled.
If you can't even defend your own love, then the so-called tradition is just shit.
From Manila to Kagalin, it takes 15 hours.
However, every day, rich people, celebrities, and NBA players from all over the world trek through the mountains and rivers just to see Maria.
They turned carts into carts, carts for walks, crossed mountains and mountains, and crossed the thick fog of poisonous insects.
Valorant, just see her admission ticket.
Because to get her tattoo, you have to risk death.
Unlike common tattoos, Maria does not use machines, has no drawings, and relies entirely on memory and skill.
Her tattoo needle is a freshly picked citrus thorn, and the clan believes that the smell of citrus can repel evil spirits.
Her tattoo ink, which is aged pot bottom ash, mixed with vegetable oil and sugar cane juice, is a black that never fades.
Maria taps the stick with one hand and taps quickly with the other, and the long thorn pierces her skin 100 times per minute.
The ink mixes with blood to form an ancient totem.
According to custom, you can not cry pain or tears during the tattoo, and the Kagarins firmly believe:
If a person can endure the pain of tattoos, he can endure the suffering later in life.
But that's a thing of the past.
Maria laughed, and now people began to cry wolves as soon as the needle went down, and some big men even fainted in pain.
Time flies, the girl of that year is already a hundred-year-old woman, and there are not many warriors left in the tribe.
"The person who got the tattoo, I'm the only one left."
In those years, with the development of the times, the young clansmen left the mountain village, who would care about the craftsmanship of tattooing?
Mary could only make a living by farming.
At 5 a.m., she walked down 1,000 steps in flip-flops to plough the terraces.
At 4 p.m., she went home with a heavy basket, and Sunset kissed her crooked back.
Mary, who vowed not to marry for life, her relatives are dead and her descendants are gone.
She lives in a rickety wooden house with a few pigs.
In the dead of night, villagers can always hear a distant song coming from the wooden house.
No one knows the name.
Later, when asked by the reporter, Maria stroked her wrist and said with a smile: "A teenager taught me." ”
A few years ago, a documentary made Maria's name famous.
The Lady of Thorns tattooed with thorns, the last Mambabatok, the Queen of Tattoos in seclusion in the mountains...
Believers from all over the world came to see the blood, leaving snowflake photos in her house.
In the photo, Maria wears a headscarf, a bead chain, and holds homemade coffee, like a mysterious witch.
Mary did not resist these fanatical visitors, and she confessed:
"Because of their arrival, I had money to buy pigs and the village to build roads."
On the most day, Maria tattooed 32 guests and earned only 5,000 pesos, or about 631 yuan.
With an average of 20 tattoos, Maria knows enough.
In addition to maintaining her daily life, she left the rest of the money to the villagers to do white work.
"One day, I will die too." She knew it in mind.
On February 17, 2017, Maria received her first ID card.
It was her 100th birthday.
She put on her most cherished stone jewelry, put on the most expensive velvet dress, and sat in the mountains.
Looking at the village, she pondered the inescapable question:
Mambabatok, will people die?
In "A Generation of Grandmasters", Gong Ruomei, played by Zhang Ziyi, pursues a solitary path in order to avenge her father:
You cannot marry, you cannot pass on your art, and you cannot leave any offspring.
Gong Ruomei chose to live in her own years, but Maria could not.
"Tattoos are the hope of keeping the village alive."
So, Mary exploited a loophole, she did not take apprentices, she did not pass on the craft.
Just let the girl from the village who wants to learn come to her house and see her tattoo.
His hands were covered with birthday spots, and his old eyes were like ancient amber.
She tapped over and over again, hoping that on the countdown days, the children would see a little more, a little more.
"I can't teach you, you can learn as much as you can, and when I die, I will live with the village."
Over the years, more than 20 young people have "looked" Maria's tattoo, and all of them are girls.
Maria said: "I want girls to control their lives as much as tattoos. ”
"Tattoos can't be stopped, and loved ones must not let go."
Today, Maria is 106 years old.
Alone, the family is surrounded by four walls, only full of tattoos.
"I will keep tattooing, tattooing until the night takes away my eyesight, tattooing to the land to embrace my body."
In Kagarin's beliefs, gold cannot enter the underworld, jewelry cannot reach the Yellow Spring, and tattoos are the only thing that can cross life and death.
After death, people who love each other can recognize each other by tattoos and reunite in the next life.
If you pay attention, Maria is tattooed from head to toe, except for a blank ring on her right wrist.
It was the thought she left for the boy she loved deeply, and it was her invisible wedding ring to her lover who died early.
It was the first love she spent her life defending.
"One day I will die, and one day you and I will meet again."
At that point, she can finally have your name tattooed on her wrist.
Ann and Maria.
Picture丨Network
Responsible editor丨Honey
Editor丨Happy little fairy