The Popularity of Tattooing In Polynesia, in the island of Tonga tattooing once symbolized something it symbolized the place that a Tongan held in society. In an article written by Tricia Allen a doctoral candidate in anthropology form the University of Hawaii she talks about the art of tattooing and how it has been lost throughout the years. This was an art that was lost in Tonga because of the contact between the Tongans and Europeans. The Europeans thought of it as something unethical. Before European missionaries arrived to Tonga nearly all Tongan men were covered with tattoos. Women were tattooed also b