I got a new tattoo this past weekend. I’ve loved tattoos since I was in my teens. I got my first tattoo back in 1987 at Laguna Tattoo in (where else?) Laguna Beach, CA. After 21 years I decided it was time for a new one. This time I really, really, really, wanted a tattoo to commemorate my love of needlework, especially knitting. Here is what I had done:
She is the Stitch ‘n Bitch pinup! It is still a little red and irritated, but I am absolutely in love with it! At some point I’ll probably join my older tattoo that ends on my right hip with this tattoo (it’s on my left calf) by getting one that goes across my left thigh. I have, oh, about 21 years to think about it!
So why, after 21 years did I suddenly decide to get another tattoo? Short answer - I don’t know; it’s just one of those things. It sort of happened like this: Joe and I were talking about his birthday tattoo - he’s going to have the Harwood family crest tattooed onto his calf. While we were chatting I decided to drive to Temecula to talk to the artists at 1st Amendment about getting my pin-up tattoo. He came along to talk with them about his tattoo. And voilà! 3-1/2 hours later I have a tattoo on my leg! Joe will get his next month for his birthday.
For a little history of the art of tattooing, read on...Tattooing is an expression of beauty found throughout the world. The history of tattooing goes back thousands of years to most countries of the world.
In the Americas, ancient pottery fragments and fragments of ancient ceremonial objects show that North America's Southeastern tribal people have been using tattoos to decorate their bodies for centuries. The early European explorers were amazed at the complex designs covering not only the men's bodies but the women as well. Swift hands and delicate motions imbedded intricate patterns into the skin using turtle and fish bone needles and natural dyes. It took hours to create one segment of a design that would eventually, over years, cover the entire body. I can only imagine how an individual's life story could be read from the art on their body. Tattoos were also used on the face and body to give power to the individual wearing them. For example, paint or tattoos were used to create symbolic eagle eyes around the eyes of men, giving them the eyes of the eagle in flight.
Japanese tattoos are referred to in Japanese as irezumi which literally means the insertion of ink under the skin leaving a permanent mark or tattoo. Tattooing in Japan is thought to extend back to at least 10,000 years. The Ainu people, the indigenous people of Japan, are known to have used tattoos for decorative and social purposes for many thousands of years.
Religious tattoos have been around for thousands of years but they haven't always been accepted as they are nowadays.
During the Roman Empire the practice of tattooing was almost eradicated in so called civilized culture. The Romans believed that the body was to remain in its purest form and tattoos had no place in this belief. Roman soldiers came across many tattooed barbarians in the expansion of the Roman Empire and as a result soldiers began bringing tattoos back into the civilized world.
As Christianity emerged it brought with it the secrecy of an underground religion in a Roman state of intolerance. Christians began tattooing crosses on the underside of their forearms as a secret sign to other Christians. This was a bold statement of their faith, although secret, a Christian caught with a cross tattoo would be killed immediately.
Several accounts of tattooing in Palestine can be found in travel journals of Christian pilgrims and the practice continued well into the twentieth century. In 1956, a professional tattooist, Jacob Razzouk was using tattoo designs carved on woodblocks that had been handed down from father to son in his family since the seventeenth century. The blocks he used were copied and published in Carswell’s book Coptic Tattoo Designs, printed in a limited edition of 200 copies in 1956. The book contains reproductions of 184 prints together with descriptions of the traditions and symbolism associated with each design.
Throughout history it has become commonplace for tattooed individuals to be set apart or outside society. But times are changing. More than a millennium after church authorities condemned tattooing as a sin, there is a surge in people getting religious tattoos. Christians are inking their bodies with images of crosses, sacred hearts and angels. And, for a small but growing subculture within evangelical Christianity, religious tattooing is becoming more and more a form of expression of individuality, identity and faith. Instead of worshipping religious representations displayed on stained glass windows of the local church, people find meaning in inscribing images on their own private temple of the Holy Spirit.
Abiding by the principle that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, most conservative Christian churches have set limits on bodily expressions, whether these expressions are in the form of tattoos, piercings, extreme hair styles, et cetera.
As far as tattoos go, the Bible has different decrees open to different interpretation. For example Leviticus says:
"Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead,
nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD."
But, in his Letter to the Galatians, Apostle Paul says:
"Let no one cause me trouble,
because I bear on my body the marks of Jesus"
Other biblical passages from Exodus to Revelation describe divine symbols being placed on the bodies of believers. Since the Emperor Constantine banned the practice in the third century because it violated God's teachings, attempts by religious authorities to prohibit tattooing have met with limited success.
Tattoos have not only risen in status to become popular and acceptable within all classes of society, in some milieus, tattoos have achieved an elevated degree of aesthetic value. Tattoo art and artifacts
have value. Tattoo, a previously ignored and marginalized practice, is undergoing a process of cultural re-inscription. New meanings of tattoo are being generated by exhibitions that reframe tattoos as art. Recent international exhibitions in American galleries and museums suggest that cultural experts are now speaking on behalf of tattoo culture.
A great link for pictures of tattooed women in history and general tattoo history:
http://www.lyletuttle.com/tattoohistory/pasttattooedwomen.html
