Origin of the tattoo, more than an art, a passion.

Let's talk a little bit about art and history, we all know what tattoos are and we know that in this 21st century they have become very fashionable, there are many designs ranging from portraits, to designs of many colors and figures, but do you know where this wonderful art originated? As we know this custom is practiced in different cultures and at some times was punished, in the Middle and Modern Ages in the Western world and this was only allowed to the Crusader knights to be recognized in case they died in any of their battles, after a while the tattoos were accepted again in the West.

Image Taken from google
It is also believed that this practice was performed by different cultures and in different ways, applying different methods and techniques. In Egypt there is a record of the tattoo from 2160 to 1994 A.C, one of her most famous tattooed mummies is Amunet, who was a priestess of the goddess of Hathor, who was discovered in the city of Thebes (capital of the Middle Empire and new empire in Egypt). In her are observed lines and several points tattooed on her body, in another mummy, the mummy of Asecond were found the same models, but also had dotted his lower pelvic area, this led to the consensus that in Egypt only tattooed priestesses, is believed to be performed exclusively by women and that was an act of showing courage or confirmed maturity.

Image Taken from google
Around 1000 A.C. the tattoo began to have commercial routes in India, Japan and China. In Japan the tattoo was used as a brand name for criminals who were isolated by their families and what constituted the worst punishment for them and the Japanese Yakuza mafia used the tattoo to show courage and loyalty to the mafia. In North America, this was a symbolic rite and a unique mark that allowed to overcome obstacles on the way to death, was associated with the religious and magical world and in Central America was used by the natives especially the Aztecs, who tattooed gods on children in order to pay tribute to the gods.

Yakuza

North American

Aztec
Image source google

As there are different cultures that practiced and still practice this art there are also different techniques that were used to make these tattoos.

Sewn tatto This is a type of tattoo that was practiced in Asia, in the Siberian peoples of the Ostíac race, here the tattoos were made with needle and thread, passing the needle through some dyeing substance, passing the thread under the skin following the shape of the desired drawing and passing the thread leaves traces of color and forming the figure to tattoo.

Tattoo by cut This is usually done in prisons with sharp objects such as knives or knives, the dye is obtained in different ways, black is removed from the smoke of the burned sole rubber or coal dust, the red dye is obtained from the dust of brick or the dye of a pen, this does not have very good results because its ink is not very durable. To make these tattoos they make small cuts in the skin with the desired figure and then deposit the ink.
ScarificationIt is a practice carried out mostly by people with dark skin, it consists of making figures on the skin by means of scars.

Burn tattooing This was a custom used in ancient times to mark slaves and is now used to mark cattle. In this technique, an iron rod with a forged seal was used, which was heated in the fire until it became red-hot or the person to be marked was placed on the skin.

Below I will leave you with a series of images with some of the instruments that were tattooed in antiquity and those used today. I hope you liked the post, remember that you can leave your vote, comment and you can also start to follow me.