Tattoos For The Feet Biography
Source:- Google.com.pk
Tattooing in Western culture owes its popularity to the sailors of the 1700s, who were inspired by the tattooed indigenous people they encountered when visiting the islands of Polynesiain the South Pacific. The word itself is believed to have derived from the Tahitian ta-taw – an onomatopoeic word mimicking the sound of Polynesian tattooing tools.
Life at sea was dangerous and a sailor’s nerves were constantly being tested by the elements. Knowing that at any moment a tempest could blast them into a watery grave made sailors a superstitious bunch. The symbols they had inked onto their bodies were more than just exotic souvenirs from distant lands. They told the story of where a sailor had travelled, if he had been around Cape Horn, crossed the Equator, or visited the Orient. They were good-luck charms or protective talismans, and it was not long before there existed an extraordinarily elaborate set of tattoo symbols that spoke a language all of their own.
Seeing a sailor with a tattoo of a turtle on its back legs, for example, would indicate that he had been to the equator, and if he had a rope tattooed around his wrist, you would know he was a dockhand. A cross on the sole of each foot was supposed to ward off hungry sharks should you be cast overboard, while an image of the North Star would ensure that you could always find your way home.
The origins of the very common pig-and-rooster tattoo are still contested. These animals were commonly carried on ships in buoyant wooden crates. If the ship sank, the crates would catch the currents and wash ashore along with other on-board debris. In such cases, the pigs and roosters could be the only living beings to survive. So perhaps these tattoos meant safety in the event of shipwreck.
Other explanations of the pig and rooster are that, since both animals are averse to water, you would be quick out of the sea in the event of accident, or that, since the animals can be taken to represent ham and eggs, the wearer of the tattoo would be safe from hunger!
Whatever the symbolism, tattoos have held deep meaning for sailors since the beginning of the 18th century. Here, using examples of the artwork of celebrated maritime-tattooist ‘Sailor Jerry’ (Norman Keith Collins), we take you through the meanings behind some other images you might see adorning the bodies of old sea-salts.
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