welcome back tattoos often have a lot of special meaning or significance for the person who gets Inked but for Filipinos it goes a lot deeper Katz Sandoval explains how the markings are an ancient art with a deep Connection to the Past this API heritage month we Spotlight an ancient Filipino tattoo ceremony that is more than a thousand years old we spoke to a practitioner who is Reviving this tribal practice thank you it's called batok an indigenous form of tattooing based in the Philippines and it dates back to pre-colonial days is a spiritual ritual ceremony but talk involves tapping ink made of charcoal soot to the skin using ancient tools like bamboo sticks Thorns or in practitioner Natalia Rojas case bone how we then put the ink on the skin is tapping these implements onto the skin but it's more than just getting Inked Filipino Americans come to Rojas to get rooted in their history there are prayers oral histories and connection with their ancestors before they get tapped and each marking is symbolic depending on tribal Roots I prefer to call it ancestral markings this has existed for thousands of years in our islands in the Philippines but due to christianization and colonization unfortunately the practice had been put to sleep there are 14 to 17 million indigenous peoples in the Philippines and many had markings to distinguish their tribes before the Spanish colonized in 1565. Rojas says there are only a handful of batok practitioners using this ancient tradition around the world the famous is Apple Wang or who graced Vogue magazine at 106 years old the oldest element to ever appear on the cover when you have ancestral markings on your body you show the world that you're not fully colonized use it as a compass to navigate this modern world with ancestral wisdom can you show us some of the markings that you have on your body so there's some on my fingers right about here my fingers have been tattooed and my wrists rollhouse has tattoos all over her body but she doesn't want to describe her tattoos in detail so it doesn't get culturally appropriated when it comes to non-filipinos wanting a tattoo Rojas is very selective because the markings are symbolic of one's tribe it is in a sense adopting non-filipinos into the community one has to either be married to someone who is Filipino or have contributed or helped the community in a huge way for Rojas the ancient art of batok is a Connection to the Past because we can still exist in this modern world and yet still be guided and be reminded that we are never alone that we come from a beautiful Rich history cat Sandoval Scripps new News Chicago