Archive Note
The Matses tattoo accentuated lines running along the cheek from the earlobes toward the mouth, pricking the body with a palm thorn and rubbing in a paste of genipap fruit juice mixed with copal-resin soot. Traditionally, adolescents were tattooed by a relative, and the same marking was also applied to people captured and integrated from other groups, so the tattoo worked both as a marker of Matses identity and as a mechanism of incorporation. Distinct from the tattoo, many elders also wear thin palm or wood spindles through the lip and nostril flares, the feature that produced the popular "Jaguar People" label, which the Matses themselves reject, stating the ornaments simply mark Matses membership. Active hands-on practice paused after sustained missionary contact in 1969 and tapered through the 1970s; many tattooed elders are still living, and younger Matses now use non-permanent achiote face paint for celebrations.