Tribal Tattoos
Saturday, January 24th, 2009
I was thinking about the incredable popularity of tribal tattoos. It seems everywhere you look someone has got a beautiful, striking tribal tattoo on their shoulder. Or the tribal tattoo that goes from one shouler, across the back, to the other shoulder. Why are they fast becoming the most popular tattoo? I did a little research into tribal tattoos, and I now have a few theories as to the popularity surge. Probably the most important of all of these theories is that tribal shoulders look so cool!
Tribal tattoos were used in different cultures to deliniate between the tribes. They were also used to distinguish between classes or rank within the tribe. Everyone in the tribe had some form of the tattoo. In most cultures, the tattoos were given in a ceremonial way, to celebrate the passage from childhood to adulthood.
It is widely believed that the Polynesian culture brought us our most popular tribal tattoos. The Samoans, the Moari, the Hawaiians. The most detailed of these are the Moari. These tattoos are intricate and curviliniar in nature. They are based on the spiral which give them much movement. The tribal tattoos were carved into the skin and rubbed with ash. Moari tattoos were on the face, back, chest, and arms. The more important you were, the more tattooing you had.
The traditional Samoan tattoo consists of very detailed geometric patterns. Traditionally, they cover a man from his waist to his knees. Woman have the same tattooing, but it is not as detailed or dense. A more modern Hawaiian Tattoo is the shoulder tattoo. Images are rich with geometric design.
The Celts and Danes tattoed their family crest on themselves. The ancient Egyptians tattooed themselves as a form of adornmant.
In Japan, woman that were of age and getting married were tattoed. If a woman was not properly tattoed, she was thought to have committed a sin and was sentenced to death. (Yikes!)
The Christians tattooed Jesus Fish on themselves. The Native American Indians tattooed animals and images that linked them to a tribe. The ancient Mexico, the Aztecs tattooed images of their slain enemies.
So, each culture seems to have some form of tattooing in their ancient history. Does our love affair with tribal tattoos have roots in our wanting to belong? Is it pride in our heritage? Is it our personal passage into adulthood? I think it is all of the above. A little bit of heritage, a little culture, a feeling of inclusion. There is nothing like a powerful, beautiful shoulder tattoo that is meaningful to you.
Whatever your reason, tribal tattoos are really intricate in nature, and powerful in design. Find the right one and you will be happy with it forever. Don’t spend enough time looking and tweaking the design, and you will be very unhappy. Tribal Tattoos are generally large and most have lots of black. Difficult to cover over, and difficult to remove. Think hard, do your research, find an excellent tattoo artist, and you will be all set.CHECK OUT THESE SITES FOR GREAT tattoo designs!W
