History

Tattoo history

It is difficult to say exactly when people first began to decorate their bodies with various kinds of ornaments, drawings, but it is definitely known that the history of tattoos dates back at least 30,000 years.

The tattoo served not only as an ornament, but also as a sign of the clan and tribe, indicated the social status of its wearer and, also endowed its wearer with a certain magical power.

Tattoos became an identification mark that stated membership to a specific tribe and its attributes. It also displayed the wearer’s social status within the said tribe. Tattoos were believed to grant the bearer magical powers.

The reasons for the tattoo are also unclear. According to one theory, this was due to accidentally injured skin. Scars and hemorrhages merged into various scars, marking their owners as brave warriors and successful hunters of the prehistoric tribes of that time.

Various types of tattoos were found in practice in many countries where light-skinned peoples lived. On the other hand, in places where dark-skinned peoples lived, tattoos scarred more than applied on the body.

Tattoos were also used to distinguish between the tribes of Europe and Asia, and like the Indians of South and North America, the skill was passed down from generation to generation, providing the basis for good anthropological evidence of the social significance of tattoos in antiquity time. Almost the whole life of these people is connected with tattoos in their own way, from birth to death, and it is difficult for them to find a place on their body that the master of tattoo art would not work on.

The face is the calling card of every person, and what we see in a person in the first place, as a rule, his decoration is the most necessary and it had to be done first. New Zealand major Major got tattoos on his face in the form of masks – “Moko”. These particularly elaborate tattoos on the top of his head also served as war face paint, emphasizing his masculinity, and the tattoos played a role in emphasizing his leadership, place in society and superiority over others. Tattoos on the face, in which case the killer gains dignity and respect, in which case the head is cut off and kept in the tribe as a relic, and the rest of the body is torn by predators. A head with a Moko tattoo testified to the courage and strength of the tribe’s warriors.

Moko face tattoos were very individual, they could not be found anywhere else in the world, so they were often used as their signature. The English missionaries found an efficient way to use Moko’s drawings instead of signatures to buy land so that the deal could not be challenged.

Japanese aboriginal women gave tattoos of the Ainu on the face a special meaning, characteristic of their marital status. By the decorations on her lips, forehead, cheeks, it was possible to determine whether a woman was innocent or married, if so, how old and how many children she had, and whether she was a widow. Similarly, in many other countries and nations, the decorations on the bodies of women in the population indicated whether she was a virgin or not. However, in many countries, tattoos on the female body have already reached the limits of miscarriage, for example, in the Nukuro tribe, children born to a woman who did not have any tattoos were killed immediately after birth.

Tattoos are also associated with rebirth, transformation and transition into another body. For example, the transformation of a young boy into a strong and powerful man. As well as the transition from this life to the afterlife. A striking example is the tribe of Diaka, from the island of Borneo, who believed in the local paradise “Apo-Kezio”, when everyone is reborn with much better qualities, when the dark becomes light, the bad becomes good, the bitter becomes sweet, so everyone from Diaka was tattooed mostly black, because they hoped for change and self-improvement after death, based on the fact that black becomes white – so they themselves are better. And also white tattoos will become lighter and shine in the paradise of Apo Kezio. Without any tattoos there would be no light and a person without them would not know where to go after death.

In every country, every nation had all kinds of tattoos with different meanings and explanations. For example, many tattoos freed children and protected them from parental hatred, as well as tattoos that protected them from going to battle, helped them in hunting, brought them good luck, and protected them from diseases.

However, it should also be mentioned that tattoo magic was used not only in the tribes and in very ancient, wild times. In the 17th and 19th centuries, British sailors depicted large ornaments and drawings on their backs, hoping to protect them from various injuries and deformities. In practice, such tattoos were found only in the English fleet. In the Arab world, those people whose bodies were decorated with tattoos with quotations from the Koran had the greatest protection.

Of course, there were cases when tattoos could put the owner in an awkward position. As well as the inability to integrate into society because of them. There were cases when the tattoo served as the basis for the punishment of its owner, and the tattoo was also a sign of receiving punishment or committing a crime. In the Japanese province of Chukuden, from 1603 to 1867, a black horizontal line was drawn on the offender’s forehead as punishment for the first crime, and another line was added for each subsequent crime. If the offender committed many crimes, the word “inu” appeared on his forehead from these lines – which meant – a dog.

In ancient China, too, one of the five classical forms of punishment was tattooing the guilty person. Because in this way, if the criminal managed to escape from prison, he could be found easily by with the help of these tattoos. The Greeks and Romans also used such tactics for criminals. Soon after, Spanish travelers introduced the practice to Mexico and Nicaragua. In ancient Europe, the tattoo was common among the Greeks and Gauls, the British, French, Germans and Russians.

The Orthodox used specially designed stamps and seals to create tattoos. These special ornate presses were used to evenly cover the entire body with a patterned sieve, and in rare cases were used in various magical rituals to create the offspring of a cult.

With the spread of Christianity, even the simplest tattoos were brutally eradicated as an integral part of the language ritual and practically died out. Tattoos were really not practiced by Europeans until the 18th century. The infamous James Cook made the biggest contribution to tattooing in Europe. Returning from the voyage, he brought from Tahiti not only the word “tattoo”, but also “Grand Omai”, a tattooed Polynesian which became a sensation; the first live tattoo; a gallery. From now on, not a single self-respecting performance, exhibition or circus of the lost could do without a “labeled savage”.

At the end of the century, Aboriginal fashion fell dormant, replaced by Americans and Europeans. For example, Ladybug Viola walked with portraits of six American presidents, Charlie Chaplin and many other celebrities who have excited the public of our age. Although the audience looked with pleasure at the painted circus artists, they were in no hurry to tattoo themselves. These were sailors, miners, pilots and so on. Advantage. They used it as symbols of brotherhood or solidarity and faith in tradition.

During World War I, the letter “D” was tattooed on deserters in Britain, and during World War II, concentration camp prisoners were numbered in Germany. All this reduced the artistic value of the tattoo.

The stingy fantasy and dubious tastes of the main clients led to a limited “repertoire” of tattoos: marine themes, dubious and sentimental banal aphorisms. No matter how unfortunate the fact is, humanity has turned ancient art into cheap consumer goods. Since there was no demand for a decent production of bold tattoos, there was no incentive to develop artistic and new styles. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Europe and America followed the standard of simple, uncomplicated images.

And only due to the strong growth of the youth culture of the 50-60s. In the 1930s, a new generation of tattoo artists emerged, with artistic ambitions and bold experiments that brought tattoos back into art. They widely adopted traditional images from the Far Eastern, Polynesian, Indian culture, creating new styles, trends and schools.

This marked the beginning of a new, modern stage in the millennial art of tattooing.

Tattoo styles

Maori are the most prominent representatives of the Polynesian tattoo style. In fact, there was a great revival of the culture of traditional Maori tattoos. The Maori tattoo originated over a thousand years ago in New Zealand. Their meaning can be the broadest – as a document proving identity, status, genealogy, as well as the right to marry. Basically, Maori tattoos symbolize beauty and wildness.