article_snippet: these smiling villagers faces covered in elaborate black patterns and, in some cases, totally dark with ink, these smiling villagers are some of Burma's last surviving tattooed women.
article_snippet: A custom that, according to legend, began when an ancient king tried to make slaves of the women, the inkings were first intended to repel incomers and then became a symbol of beauty.
article_snippet: The women of the Chin, Magan and Muun tribes say facial tattoos are a sign of beauty .
article_snippet: Meaning: Each of the facial tattoos is replete with symbols, although the most frequently seen design is the spider's web (pictured) Variation: These women, both from the Chin tribe, have less prominent tattoos than those from the Muun and Magan peoples .
article_snippet: Others bear full-face tattoos, with every part of Others face covered in ink - again, a symbol of beauty.
article_snippet: Must-have: The tattoos are thought to be an ancient custom that arose in response to a slave-hungry king.
article_snippet: In the centuries that followed, The tattoos became a sign of beauty and were insisted upon by parents .
article_snippet: Women of the Chin tribe have smaller and more delicate tattoos that only cover part of an all-black face .
article_snippet: Painful: smaller and more delicate tattoos that only cover part of the face are made using thorns (pictured) and ink made from a mixture of pig fat, cow bile, plants and soot .
article_snippet: The tattoos, which are created using thorn needles and an ink made from a mixture of cow bile, soot, plants and pig fat, are also a sign of bravery - particularly those etched on the neck, which are the most painful of all.
article_snippet: In the past, women who tried to avoid being tattooed found themselves thrown into the family pig pen where, says Pa Late, themselves stayed until themselves changed themselves minds and submitted to the procedure.
highlights_snippet: The Muun, Magan and Chin tribes of remote north-western Burma consider tattoos a sign of beauty .
  
highlights_snippet: Women bear elaborate inked patterns that cover Women whole face, with many also having Women on Women neck .
  