Tattoo

I've always wanted to get one done but always wondering where and what. It's not about celebrities, rockers or sports icon having them, like if I have one too, I'll feel like them. Neither it is about feeling sexy or rebellious. What is it all about, having some form of art on your body?

First signs of Tattoo comes from 'Otzi – the Ice man' some 3300 BC. His preserved body was found in 1991. Evidently, the tattoo marks were formed by rubbing charcoal on wounds and scientists believed that during those times, tattoo might have been used as a medical treatment to reduce pain. Apart from that, tattoo also has traces on Egyptian women mummified some 2000BC ago. They carried dotted patterns around their belly to certain Gods images. However, the ancient Romans were not very keen on it as they believed in purity of body form. They only used tattoo as brands for criminals and it all changed when they fought with the English, where the Soldiers wore their 'tattoo as badges of honour'. The word 'tattoo' comes from 'tatau' (which means to strike a mark into the body in Tahiti, discovered when the English explorer, Capt. James Cook during his trip in Tahiti around 1769. Various tribes also use tattoo for spiritual rituals from American Natives to natives of New Zealand. It has also been used for identifications amongst the warriors, sailors and soldiers. In Japan, the Yakuza (gangster class), has complex designs which represented an unresolved conflict. They would also have certain images of what they wanted to follow, like a
carp represented strength and perseverance where as lion stood for courage.

A tattoo is created by injecting ink into a person's skin. Using an electrically powered tattoo machine that sounds like a dental drill, the machine moves a solid needle up and down to puncture the skin between 50 and 3,000 times per minute. The needle penetrates the skin by about a millimetre and deposits a drop of insoluble ink into the skin with each puncture. When you look at a person's tattoo, you're seeing the ink through the epidermis (outer skin) as the ink is actually in the dermis, which is the second layer of the skin. The cells of the dermis are far more stable than the cells of the epidermis, so the tattoo's ink will stay in place for a person's entire life.

In today's world, however, Tattoo is accepted more unenthusiastically. The common reasons to get a tattoo could be religious, for loved ones, military service, spiritual or ritual or even just a mistake at the cost of fun. To me, it only shares a common perspective, either to remind or be reminded about oneself, someone or something forever.

Source:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0412/online_extra.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tattoo