Chin women

In Myanmar’s Chin State, the ethnic minority women are renowned for their remarkable face tattoos. They are made in the very young age (about 7 to 15) using leaves, grass shoots and soot. One of the Chin tales say that the tattooing was done for beauty and to differentiate the neighboring tribes in case one was kidnapped by another. Durning the 1960 the Burmese government banned this practice. Also the missionaries was criticizing it as barbaric. In effect these women are the last generation to bear facial tattoos.