These Personalities Have Gotten Tattoos From Apo Whang-Od 

These people made the pilgrimage to Buscalan to meet and get inked by the famous mambabatok.

Over the last decade, there has been a resurgence of interest in traditional tattoos largely due to Apo Whang-Od, the oldest mambabatok from Tinglayan in the Kalinga mountains. Attention to the 106 year-old traditional tattoo artist, dubbed the ‘last’ living mambabatok, first came when she was featured in a documentary by anthropologist Lars Krutak on the Discovery Channel. Crowds have since taken the long, strenuous trip to Buscalan to visit the Butbut tribe and receive their traditional tattoos. More importantly, what was once thought to be a dying art is now being passed down to a new generation of mambabatok, ensuring that the culture lives on. 

Whang-Od’s visitors have included celebrities over the years. Here are just some of them: 

Karen de Castro

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Karen de Castro is a digital content strategist who formerly served as a digital content writer at Vogue Philippines. She initially started out as an SEO specialist, before transitioning to servicing in the digital marketing for BPOs. She has over a decade of experience working in this industry. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of the Philippines where she studied english studies and focused on Anglo-American literature.

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