Tattoos

Tattoos

Tattoos

There are many ways in which people, especially youth, try to identify themselves, getting a tattoo is one of them. The word tattoo comes from the Tahitian word tat-tau, which means “to mark”; it also evolved from the traditional process of applying ink to the body (dictionary.com). A sharp needle carries the ink on its pointed surface, and the tattoo artist uses something to hammer the needle into the skin repeatedly, driving in the ink. This traditional process can be very painful. So where did tattoos begin, why get one, and why are tattoos so popular now?
The exact time period from where tattoos originated, we will never be quite sure about. The history of tattoos tends to show it dating back to around 3000 B.C. In 1991 a 5300 year old mummy was found in the Alp Mountains, the mummy had 59 tattoos, including stripes, lines, and cruciform marks on various parts of his body, thus begins the history of tattoos (Hill). No one has ever really been sure of the meaning behind tattoos, some may have been markings from a particular tribe, and some from rituals, or even medical procedures, the truth is that we may never really know. Tattooing in Egypt around 1550 B.C. was only done on women. Although tattooing was already known of before this time, this was when the very simple dot and dash designs began to grow, if only into stick figures (Handwerk). Almost all of the tattooing being practiced in this time period were to identify tribes or families, to mark criminals, worshiping various religions, and possibly to show some sort of status. It is also very possible that a very small amount of tattoos were done for artistic purposes, they were often very simple marks rather than the beautiful elaborate tattoos we see today.
The real question is, why get a tattoo? Is it really worth the time, money, or pain? Some of the reasons people get tattoos can sometimes seem controversial, but just remember that they are very personal. Tattooing can be done to fit...