History of Samoa who brought the tools necessary to create the art of tatau, or in English tattoo, whence came the traditional Samoan "malofie" (also known as "pe'a" for men and as "malu" for women). The foundation of the cultural tradition of Samoa, or the fa'asamoa came with the rise of the warrior queen Nafanua. Her rule instituted traditions of the fa'amatai or local family and village and regional chiefly systems, a decentralized system. Her niece Salamasina continued under this system and their time is considered a golden age of Samoan cultural traditions. For a long period, a Tongan aristocracy ruled in Samoa.
Tau tau was somewhat dampened. At the 1985 synod of Toraja Church in Palopo people debated if Protestant Toraja could have tau tau at their funerals. Torajans believe that the dead can take their possessions with them to the after life, the effigies are usually equipped with small possessions. In 1980s, the wooden effigies became a target for grave robbers looted and possessions kept with them and sold the figures to museums. Tau tau can now be found in Jakarta, Europe and America, and were once even on display at the Smithsonian Institution in 1991. In response to this plunder of the