Origin of tattoos

The history of development of the tattooing started way to hell and gone back, first examples of tattoo were found on the mummies of Egyptian pharaohs. At that times tattoo wasn't just a way of decoration of one's body but a special sign and distinctive mark of peculiar meaning. It wasn't one nation or culture that created the tattoo tradition; tattoo was common for a number of tribes and nations. According to one theory tattoo appeared as a result of wounds ancient people received as they were fighting against beasts of enemies.

The first tattoo was a wound of a man he received during hunting or fight. That wound and the scar were recognised by other member of the society as an indication of his strength and braveness. Latter those scars and wounds were depicted on the body of man like a symbol of his strength and power. That is how the first tattoo appeared. The scarification was another peculiar way of decorating the body and that way was common for black-skinned tribes, though the white-skinned tribes used the tattoo mostly.

With the laps of tome the tattoo become not only an indication of some features of a character but also an indication of a person's belonging to certain tribe or community. It was a way for ancient people to recognise their fellow tribesmen among other, as ancient people had no other identity of a personality. Soon, the culture of tattoo was developed so greatly that there appeared different kinds of tattoo. There were wedding tattoos, ceremonial tattoos, war tattoos and so on and so forth.

The tribes of Indonesia may be considered as the keepers of tattoo culture. The tattoo for these tribes is not only a decoration but the social identification of a person. Their entire life is developed around the tattoo culture. The tattoo is pattern on their bodies once they are born and during their entire life as an identification of beginning or end of some period of their lives. Face is the most common place for tattoo in the culture of those tribes, as face is such part of a body that is always in a fishbowl.

Moreover, tattoo wasn't just an identification of social or vital status of a person; it was also used like a protection against the number of troubles. For example there were tattoos patterned in order to protect a hunter against death or wounds, there also were tattoos patterned in order to protect children against anger of their parents, the tattoos were patterned in order to protect one against evil spirits. The healers of the tribes also used a tattoo as a healing method. They patterned certain tattoos on the body of a person and that tattoo supposed to help him recover of terrible disease or else.

Nowadays tattoo used mostly as a decoration of the body and people don't care much about their meaning or they themselves create meanings for a tattoo. Though, there still tattoos of peculiar meanings and function but these tattoo mostly the symbols of sum communities or subcultures the member of the community or subculture use in order to identify themselves as members of those communities. Though, the fact that people don't care much about the history of tattoo and their origin these still remains something more than a decoration of body.