Mahlet Alemayehu Reba

The Practice of Tattooing in Amhara Region: the Case of Ankober: a Contribution to Documentary Linguistics Mahlet Alemayehu Reba

Ankober, also called Gorobela was a capital of the former kingdom of Shoa. It is located at the northern edge of the Ethiopian highlands in the northern Shoa, and is a historical site. The Ankober community is well known for its habit of wearing of tattoos. The reasons so far in support of tattooing in Ankober are decorative, religious and healing. This book presents a fascinating tattoo designs and their cultural relevance in the Ankober community. Basically, there are ten distinct tattoo designs that are worn in the Ankober community. The tattoo designs are named burrie, yebere shint ot wet?a wered, mesk?elegngna or meskel, kibb, guramaylle, yewof igir, net?ebt?ab, senselet, finger tattoos, writing on the body and others.