Veiqia Fijian [βɛi̯.ᵑɡi.a], or Weniqia, is a female tattooing practice from Fiji. Women or adolescent girls who had reached puberty were tattooed in the groin and buttocks area by older female tattooing specialists called dauveiqia or daubati. The practice was prominent pre-colonisation, but it was discouraged in the nineteenth century by missionaries, some of whose activities took place under British colonial rule. By around 1908 to 1910, there was a single remaining tattooist recorded as being active; she was called Rabali. The practice has been revived in the twenty-first century, substantially led by the work of a collective of artists known as The Veiqia Project. An archive relating to veiqia is held at the Fiji Museum, however western museum collections hold many more artefacts relating to the practice than do institutions in its country of origin.
For Fijian people, the tattoos accentuated a woman's beauty across the stages of her life. Veiqia were seen as attractive and could be an important factor that enabled a woman to marry. If she died without them, they would be painted on her body after death so her spirit could proceed into the afterlife. Receiving veiqia was highly ritualised, with many regional variations. Preparation for the process could include abstinence from food or from sexual relations, and purging of the body. The process of tattooing was closely associated the gift of a young woman's first liku (fringed skirt) to wear once their veiqia was complete.
Special caves called qara ni veiqia were sometimes used for the ritual. Traditional medicines given to the young women varied from region to region and some were part of preparation for the ritual. To break the skin, some tools used included stingray spines, lemon thorns or shark teeth. Inks were made from Acacia richii or Kauri pine. Motifs for tattoos included: turtles and wandering tattlers, pottery and basketwork. The tattooists, known as dauveiqia (also daubati) were paid in masi (barkcloth), tabua (polished sperm whale teeth) or liku.