Religious Tattoos

As long as people have been marking and modifying their physical appearance, there has been a strong spiritual element to the practice of body art and body modification. Even before the rise of organized religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam in the West and Buddhism & Hinduism in the East, with their widely recognized symbols of religious faith and devotion, tattoos often clearly were intended to serve a purpose beyond simple expressions of decoration and identification. Many early tattoos clearly had a cosmic connection and wove early man into the fabric of the larger universe. Early cultures often inscribed themselves with animal images and totems, probably in an effort to evoke the power of the animal spirits, possibly for success in the hunt, but also for protection. Even today, in one of the remotest parts of the planet, the Kayan tribesman in Borneo receives a pair of hand-tapped tattoos on both shoulders to guarantee his safe passage, as a departed soul, across the River of the Dead. These are tattoos with roots back to a time when the meaning was much more than skin deep and beyond simple decoration. In more modern times, the Crusaders tattooed a small cross on their hand to ensure a Christian burial in the event they were killed in battle in foreign lands. Around the world, believers in different faiths have tattooed symbols of their religion on their bodies to ensure a proper burial. And today, in a tattoo culture where much of the artistry is for decorative purposes only, the resurgence of religious tattoos is once again bringing the faithful into the tattoo

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