CHRISTIAN TATTOOS
Tattoos are trendy, yet are an ancient practice. This decoration of the body
is meant to be lasting and can even have a religious meaning. In the history
of Christianity, it also has an important tradition.
Tribal tattoos have adorned humans for thousands of years. On the body of
the mummy found in an Austrian glacier, known as ‘Őtzi’, which was around
5000 years old, were around 40 Tattoos. We do not know if they were mere
decoration or had some medical or religious function. There are different
techniques to achieve this decoration, either by mere painting (such as the
Picts may have used) or some incisions. In 1890 Samuel O’Reilly invented
an electric tattoo machine, allowing for more controlled shading and intricate
designs, creating new possibilities. Post-war tattoos fell out of fashion as
people found that at their work-place it seemed to be frowned on, or due to
the association with Jewish people being numbered and tattooed in Nazi
death camps. Ink-art gained more momentum recently thanks to tattooed
celebrities in music, film and sport. Modern Tattoos are lasting, to get rid of
them you need laser treatment, and
there has recently an industry
developed for such an undertaking.
An estimated 10.000 people around
the world have had tattoos of bees as
part of a fundraising initiative to raise
money for the victims of the
Manchester bombing. The initiative
asked the world’s tattoo artists to ink
the city’s bee symbol on to people for
a suggested donation of £50, some
people have donated a little more and
some a little less than the
commended sum, but it was and is a
very successful undertaking and even older people who would normally not
ever enter a tattoo studio came to have it done.
In Jewish-Christian tradition tattoos are known to have a religious meaning.
In Genesis 4,15 the Lord put a Mark on Cain, which might have been some
kind of a tattoo, but the Torah later forbade the Israelites to have Tattoos,
maybe because it was a practice of pagan tribes. In 1 Kings 18 it is said that
the prophets of Baal incised themselves with knives as was their custom.
The negative image of this practice changed with Christianity, some think it
was because Paul in Galatians 6,17 told us that he carried the marks of
Jesus on his body. This needn’t have been taken literally, but people
interpreted it as some sign of a tattoo or stigma.
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