Several research and survey says that tribal tattoo is something that dates back through time and place and is connected to many of our heritages. Mummified remains reveal that tribal tattoos were not a new concept but an age old practice.
Many would like to know what tribal tattoos mean. The answer to this question will vary from region to region and from culture to culture. Tribal tattoos are certain designs that depict different stories made on the different parts of the body. Various objects were used to make holes in the flesh. The process was painful and to reduce the pain soot of some sort and berry juice was rubbed into the wounds. Some of the tribal designs were as simple as a few lines or circles in certain patterns while others were highly intricate pieces of work but whatever design it ought to be it was painful and sometime fatal as the methods used was not so highly safe and sophisticated as it is today. Tribal tattoos were generally performed to mark the wealth, rank, tribe affiliation, and direct family, their role in society, acts of strength, and deeds of bravery. Tattoos of many other tribes indicate various aspects of their lives, like they believed to prevent and cure sickness associated with the evil spirits or as decoration. Surprisingly unlike the modern days women were denied to the "privilege" of being tattooed with a tribal marking or identity earlier in some tribe and the strong reason behind is that any adornment that would equal the women of their tribe to men was not allowed but there were some tribes that allowed both sexes to be equally tattooed.
Tribal tattoos which was practice only in some cultures has now broken the boundary and extended its influence in every culture throughout the world and has become one of the fashion statements. Like many of our ancestors we also would like to adorn ourselves to separate, unify, or just because we like the way something looks on our bodies and it is inborn to desire to decorate our bodies be it with jewelry, clothing, or permanent artwork.
Tribal tattoos are instantly recognizable with their dramatic use of aggressive dark lines in jagged symmetrical shapes spread throughout the skin most often done in simple black and skin tones. They can also be infused with other colors to brighten the overall look. Unlike other tattoo styles that depict a specific object, tribal tattoos are not objective but rather related with the ‘feel’ than what it specifically looks like.
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