Nowadays, tattoos on the human body are no longer as surprising as they used to be. Many people wear on their skin various drawings, symbols and inscriptions. And many do not even realize that they draw on their bodies. However, not everyone knows that the history of tattooing begins with primitive times.
Initially, the tattoo served as both an ornament and a sign of belonging to a certain tribe, indicating the social status of its owner. Drawings applied to the skin were a kind of talisman protecting hunters from death. Later, they acquired a cultic meaning – to indicate the degree of initiation in the priestly hierarchy.
Tattoos have been discovered on the dried skin of Egyptian mummies, more than four millennia old. In ancient Egypt it was believed that signs on the skin had magical powers.
In Europe, the word “tattoo” appeared in 1769, after the return from Tahiti of the navigator James Cook. He brought with him a Polynesian whose body was covered with various signs and drawings. From this moment on, there was a great interest in Europe for tattoos. So-called “gallery people” began to appear, who had not even an inch of clean skin on their bodies – everyone was covered entirely with tattoos.
The modern fashion on a tattoo has appeared in places of imprisonment where desire of spirit is rather great and possibilities to fill up spiritual emptiness are limited. So on the body of convicts and began to appear images of Christian shrines: icons, crosses and temples. In the 1930s, many prisoners put portraits of Lenin and Stalin on their chests, believing that it would save them from being shot: they would not shoot the leaders of the world proletariat!
However, not all tattoos have deep meaning and symbolism. Nowadays, many people get tattoos just for beauty or to stand out from the crowd. Also, there are those who get tattoos under the influence of alcohol or drugs, which can lead to undesirable consequences.
Nevertheless, the tattoo remains a popular way to express yourself and your personality. It can be a symbol of faith as well as a manifestation of a creative personality. It is only important to remember that a tattoo is forever, and it should be well thought out.
По материалам: http://www.planet-today.com/2023/06/tattoo-history-meaning-and-interesting.html