Research paper-Tattoos
The word tattoo is said to have came from wow different origins the Polynesian word ‘TA’ which means striking something and the Titian word ‘auto’ which means ‘to mark something (“Tattoo Temple”). Many people across the world have tattoos in all different sizes, colors, and places. Each person who has a tattoo has gotten it for one reason or another. It is amazing how long tattoos have been around for. One fact obtained from doing research is, “Believe it or not, some scientists say that certain marks on the skin of the Iceman, a mummified human body dating from about 3300 B. C. , are tattoos” (Karmic).
It is very interesting to know hat tattoos have been around for this many years, it was until 1991 when the tattoos were discover on the Iceman by scientist Tots. It is incredible how they were still able to discover these markings on the Iceman after so many years of being frozen. Many people over look tattoos as dumb useless art on the body, but many tattoos have a symbolic meaning. Throughout history many different cultures and native tribes have had strong symbolic meanings towards their tattoos. It is amazing how many different meanings a tattoo has and the reason for getting the tattoo.
If people in society were more aware of he history of tattooing and how far it has grown into the beautiful art that it is today then society would be more accepting towards people in society who have tattoos. Many people frown upon tattoos typically because they do not understand their means or appraise tattoo artist for their amazing work. If so many people do not like tattoos then why does every little kid love putting on fake stick on tattoos as a child? Many children wear these tattoos and change them from time to time. Just like real tattoos fake tattoos have been around for a long time too.
Children tattoos are cool to have and children love having fake tattoo of something they really like and it gives them a happy feeling. Temporary tattoos were first introduced in Cracker Jacks in 191 2 when “A Prize In Every Box” was introduced (“Tattoo Archive”). Children about two or three years of age till about 9 years old wear temporary tattoo the most. This is the target market for temporary stick on tattoos. A more expensive form of a temporary tattoo is a henna tattoo. A henna tattoo is a tattoo using a semi permanent tattoo pen. Henna tattoos are safer than real tattoos because there are no needles being used.
Henna tattoos are closer to real tattoos than tick on temporary tattoos because they last 2 to 4 weeks and have a lot better quality. When we are grow up tattoos are cool to have and children put them on for looks or because they really like a particular tattoo. Henna tattoos are tended to be for anyone, but the age group that gets henna tattoos the most is teenagers. One would think since tattoos are around us our whole life that they would be more accepting in society and would not be looked upon as a negative thing to have on a persons body because a tattoo does not change who a person is.
The average person does not sit around and think about where the idea of a tattoo came from or how people got the idea to start to perform such art on a person’s body. The idea of carving art into another person’s body started many, many years ago. The first tattoos most likely came into existence by an accident (“Tattoo Emblem”). Researches believe that it was caused by an accident because someone with a small wound or gash happened to rub it with a dirty hand that was covered with soot or ash. Once the wound had healed, they realized that the skin had healed over the ash and that the mark became a permanent addition (“Tattoo Emblem”).
Tattoos were first a form of scarification, which involves one wounding themselves and packing dirt or ashes into the scrape or cut to discord it permanently and it is believed that prehistoric man cut holes in his skin, charred sticks in the fire, let them cool and then applied the black substance to the wound to create tribal markings (“The History of Tattoos”). “Since one performing these actions to ones body involved pain, blood, and fire, primitive man believed the process released sacred life forces, the letting of blood was also associated with a sacrifice to the Gods.
The symbol or animal form Of the tattoo was thought to bring one retention from attack from that very same animal” (the History of Tattoos”). It is truly amazing how one thought of doing this and was able to tolerate the extensive amount of pain that his caused. It is very interesting that this evolved into the tattoos that we are used to seeing today. Tattoos were also used to bring one’s soul in alignment with God’s purpose, increase virility and fertility, ensure the preservation of the body after the death and delineate hierarchies and roles within tribes (“The History of Tattoos”).
In ancient times tattoos were connected to God which many people in ancient times valued so such. The only knowledge of the history of tattooing starts with Ancient Greek and Roman historians. Tattooing in ancient times was seen as funereal art. This dates back to the 4000 to 2000 years BC where Images of tattooing were found on Egyptian females (“The History of Tattoos”). These kinds of tattoos were applied so the spirit was allowed to pass into the spirit world undisturbed by evil entities and would let a person be free of evil spirits.
It is pretty amazing how different the purpose of tattooing varies from culture to culture. In the Borneo culture women tattooed their symbols on their forearm indicating what particular skill they were good at. A specific symbol meant something, for instance if a woman had a symbol indicating she was a skilled weaver, then her status as prime marriageable material was increased. If a person were to tattoo around their wrist and fingers it meant that they were warding away illness (“A Brief History of Tattoos”).
The Borneo culture is very important for one to learn because it is rather interesting and had an effect on making tattoos as awesome as they are today. In recorded history the earliest tattoos were believed to have constructed in the time of the great yardarm. The Greeks learned tattooing from the Persians, and used it to mark slaves and criminals so they could be identified if they tried to escape (“Greece and Rome”). Another meaning that the Greeks used tattooing for was communication among spies; the markings identified the spies and showed their rank (“A Brief History of Tattoos”).
The Greeks were very intelligent for creating this method because it is very secretive and kept spies on the down low. Tattooing in New Zealand came from Eastern Polynesian culture and is very different and sacred to their culture. New Zealand is now for the facial tattoo. The instrument that was used in the ancient times in New Zealand is called the bone chisels. In their culture the head is considered the most sacred part of the body, and because tattooing caused blood to run the tattoo craftsmen, or “outhunt-TA-kook”, were very tape persons (“New Zealand in History”).
The pain one Ernst go through getting a tattoo on their face has to be extreme; it is hard to believe that facial tattoos are so important to their culture. All high-ranking Maori were tattooed, and those who went without tattoos were seen as persons of no social status “New Zealand in History’). Living in this culture for many might be difficult because in America, many people do not have facial tattoos. The face tattoos included both rites of passage and important events in a person’s life. The one thing a person must take into concern is the tattoo’s healing process for a person who gets a facial tattoo.
A person may not eat solid foods, instead one must overcome this by consuming liquid foods and water, which was drained through a wooden funnel to ensure a person would not contaminate their tattoo or have contact with their newly tattooed swollen skin (“New Zealand in History’). Before a person could have this tattoo done a tattoo craftsman would examine a person’s bone structure before starting the very time consuming facial tattoo. The male facial tattoo was broken down into eight sections.
The eight sections were rank – the center of the forehead, position – around the eye brows, hap rank – the eyes and nose are, first or second marriage – the temples, signature – area around the nose, work – area around the cheek, man – the chin, and birth status – the jaw (“New Zealand in History’). The eight ways that the male facial tattoo was broken down is ere different and shows how powerful of a symbol and meaning this tattoo means to individuals in the New Zealand culture. The first evidence found of tattooing in Japan is found in clay figurines that have faces painted or engraved to represent tattoo marks (“Japan”).
The Japanese were responsible for creating the process of branding. Branding is applying a burn to a person’s body, by heating up iron and pressing it into ones skin. This type of body art was created from tattoos. Around the same time tattoos were being developed, the Japanese became interested in the art, but only for its decorative attributes (the History of Tattoos”). Branding was a more dangerous way of doing body art because you had to be careful and burn the skin the correct way. “The Hours the Japanese tattoo artists were the undisputed ancient masters of the color tattoo.
Their use of pigments, perspective, and imaginative designs gave the practice a whole new appearance” (“The History of Tattoos”). Today this type of tattooing is not done often because of the amount of pain one ones through during the process. Tattoos were created in America in the 1 sass. The American tattoo was originated when Captain James Cook encountered tattooed natives in the Pacific and sailors brought Polynesian influenced tattoos to America (“Tattoo: An American Evolution”). It is very surprising that it took this many years for them to make its way to America, seeing as they were around since the BC era.
This shows that many areas of the world are different from each other. When the tattoo was first brought to America, Cook a serviceman embraced the tattoo as a form of self-expression, a patriotic style evolved and the mainstreaming of the tattoo in America commenced (“Tattoo: An American Evolution”). America has to thank Cook for bringing tattoos to America because they started a whole new art in America. Cook also was the one who used the word “tattoo’ when he witnessed tattooing for the first time in Tahiti, in 1769 (“New Zealand in History’). Cook was very important to Americans in developing tattoos in the United States.
The first tattoo machine was to have been created by Thomas Edison, but was then improved and perfected by Samuel Reilly who made this machine electric (“History of Tattoos”). He then started a business as a tattoo parlor in New York City, which was the first one ever in the United States. From there parlors began to grow and grow and tattoos started to become more and more popular. Each ND every tattoo has a meaning to the person who got the tattoo, but people still continue to have a negative response for tattoos. As one can read throughout this paper, they can tell that tattoos have come a long way from when they were first started.
Throughout the world today there are so many tattoo shops that used all different types of electrical tattoo machines. In the United States there are more than 21 ,OHO shops across the United States (“Statistician”). There are many different styles of tattoo machines and they all have the same result of producing a unique tattoo for a person and each of the machines are a variety of prices. There has also been many tattoo shows created that draw in numerous viewers each and every year these shows are L. A Ink and Ink Masters. People watch these shows because they love tattoos.
Many people love watching the work of the tattoo artist and seeing the final product of the tattoo when it is finished. People in society look down upon tattoos in the work place and some places will not even hire a person because he or she has a tattoo that is uncovered. Many people who love tattoos do not like how people have a negative opinion towards the art some love. One quote rather interesting is “people tend to pre-judge people tit body art because it has created a bit of a stigma that is historically based, in that tattoos were, to be really stereotypical, worn by motorcycle-riding outcasts” (Kristin Cooke).
Since people tend to pre-judge individuals and make a stereotypical judgment after seeing a person with a tattoo. Most people feel that if a person has a tattoo then they are part of a group such as hells angles or gangs, which it is just to show membership. One thing that is rather interesting is does a person without a tattoo do better work than one with a tattoo? Since companies do not like to hire people with a visible tattoo t can be disrespectful because it can be because a culture or something that really appeals to their interest and people should not limit their opportunities on becoming hired just because of a tattoo.
Studies show that many tattoos are for a person’s individual interest and are something that means a lot to that particular person. More and more people are starting to get tattoos. A recent Pew research study found that 4-in-10 people between the ages of 1 8 and 29 have at least one tattoo (“Still Taboo? “). Since this study was done in 201 2 the numbers may have increased even more than this since tattoos are n the rise. It is amazing that today; Americans spend $1. 65 billion a year on tattoos (“Statistician”).
This is a lot of money that is being spent on tattoos and its should show that many million Americans love tattoos because if they did not like them they would not be spending billions on them yearly. If a person does not know the whole story behind tattoos and how they became the tattoos that they are today then one should not be able to look down upon them. Tattoos are one of the only thing in existence that started so long ago that has great culture traditions such as the tattoos that certain cultures et that have a tremendous amount of meaning to them.
It is amazing that today they are still trying to find the place where the first tattoo was given. If people become more educated on tattoos then maybe one-day people will not judge a person because of his or her tattoos but how they are as a person. We will all have the same opportunity for jobs based on education and how prepared one is to do a specific job not weather or not one has a tattoo and the other one does not. Many people are working together to try to find a way for people to look at tattoos in a more positive way by educating people and explaining to people how tattoos came to be and how they can tell a story of one’s life.