Whang-Od, Filipino traditional tattoo artist, featured on Nas Daily vlog

The Filipino mambabatok Whang-Od, said to be the world’s oldest tattoo artist, was featured in the latest video of Palestinian-Israeli vlogger Nas Daily.

In his vlog released Tuesday, Nas said it took his crew two full days to reach Whang-Od, who lived in the village of Buscalan in Tinglayan, Kalinga.

“When I was in the Philippines, I met a lot of tourists who came to the country not to see the beaches but to get a tattoo from the 103-year-old lady,” he said.

The vlogger showed Whang-Od’s tattooing process.

He said Whang-Od made her own ink from charcoal and water and used tree thorns as her tattoo needle.

“There’s a proper way of tattooing. You must put the right pressure so the blood won’t burst. It’s really painful getting a tattoo,” said Whang-Od, as translated in the video.

Nas said the 103-year-old tattoo artist could do 100 taps in one minute.

He said interested tourists could not pick their own illustrations, but instead they could choose from Whang-Od’s existing designs, which symbolized different meanings.

The vlogger also shared “a lost history” linked to Whang-Od’s craft.

The video explained that 1,000 years ago, there were many tattoo makers like Whang-Od who gave tattoos to the villagers to wish them luck in battle and marriage.

“I learnt how to do tattoo by watching how others did it. Nobody taught me,” said Whang-Od.

Nas said Whang-Od was the “first woman in her village to become a tattoo maker” and “the last of her kind.”

“She decided to break a thousand-year-old tradition by inking tourists,” he added.

Whang-Od said she had been teaching the craft to her two grandchildren to preserve the culture.

“So even when she dies, she can keep the tradition alive on the skin of many people for another 1,000 years. Until then you’ll find this 103-year-old woman sitting here in her room tapping her way to the history books,” said Nas.

The video featuring Whang-Od, which is part of Nas Daily’s “Stories of Ramadan” series, has accumulated over 46,000 reactions and more than 8,600 shares on Facebook as of writing.

In 2017, Nas Daily featured Filipina transwoman Angelina King.

The following year, the mambabatok was nominated for the Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan (GAMABA) or the National Living Treasures Award for fostering and preserving the traditional tattoo art of Kalinga. – RC, GMA News