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Mark my word
The word 'tattoo' is derived from the Tahitian word 'tatau', meaning to mark.
The word 'tattaw' was first used in the published account of Captain Cook's
first voyage, which appeared in 1769. It has been suggested that 'tatau' is an
onomatopoeic word. 'Tat' refers to tapping the tattooing instrument into the
skin; 'au' to the cry of pain from the person being tattooed.
Bald facts
Tattooing has been used as a way of smuggling secret messages across enemy lines
in times of war.
The 5th century BC Greek historian, Herodotus, records how Histiaeus of Miletus,
who was being held against his will by King Darius of Susa, sent a tattooed
secret message to his son-in-law, Aristagoras. Histiaeus shaved the hair of his
slave and tattooed the message on to the man's head. The slave was told that the
procedure would cure his failing eyesight. When the slave's hair had grown back
sufficiently to hide the tattoo, he was sent to Aristagoras, who shaved his head
and read the hidden message. The message instructed Aristagoras to begin a
rebellion.
Head hunters
In the late-18th
and early-19th centuries collecting tattooed Maori heads became so popular in
Europe that many Maoris were murdered to supply the trade.
The Maori people in New Zealand tattooed their heads (moko) and buttocks by
chiseling a design into the skin and rubbing ink into it. If one of their chiefs
died, they would remove and preserve the tattooed head, keeping it as a
treasured possession.
Europeans considered these heads to be curiosities and before long a trade
sprang up, with the Maori exchanging heads for firearms. Soon the Maori began to
trade the heads of their enemies killed in battle, but when demand started to
exceed supply, men began to be murdered in cold blood for their tattoos.
In some cases, slaves were tattooed so that their heads could be cut off and
sold. In 1831 Governor Darling of New South Wales took steps to outlaw the
practice.
Pious pain
European missionaries in the Cook Islands tried to remove tattoos by scrubbing
them off with sandstone. Since the ink lay deep in the skin's dermis, this
involved scouring the body raw.
Missionaries in Polynesia condemned the practice of tattooing, quoting the
Bible, which states: Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put marks on
yourselves Leviticus, 19:28
They tried to stamp out the custom and went as far as trying to remove tattoos
by rubbing the skin with sandstone in the same way that a ship's deck was
scrubbed. This practice was known as 'holystoning'. It was a primitive
forerunner of a form of tattoo removal known as dermabrasion, in which the skin
is 'sanded' to remove layers. Dermabrasion has now largely given way to laser
surgery as a popular means of tattoo removal.
The oldest tattoo
In October 1991, the 5000 year-old frozen body of a Bronze Age hunter was found
between Austria and Italy. His body bore several tattoos.
The body, nicknamed Özti, the iceman, was found in a glacier and was so well
preserved that scientists were able to make out a number of tattoos. These
included a cross on the inside of the left knee, six straight lines 15 cm above
the kidneys and a series of parallel lines on the ankles.
The position of the tattoos has caused some to speculate that the man had his
body marked for therapeutic reasons, because many of the marks correspond to the
position of acupuncture points.
Royal tattoo
King Harold II of England had a number of tattoos. After his death at the Battle
of Hastings in 1066, his tattoos were used to identify his body.
Many other royals throughout history have been tattooed. In 1862 the Prince of
Wales, later King Edward VII, had a Jerusalem Cross tattooed on his arm on a
visit to the Holy Land. When his sons, the Duke of Clarence and the Duke of York
(later King George V) visited Japan in 1882 they both had dragons tattooed on
their arms. Amongst the Russian royal family, Peter the Great, Catherine the
Great and Nicholas II all bore tattoos. Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose
assassination sparked the First World War, was also tattooed. Today royal
tattoos are less common.
Sink or swim
A pig tattooed on one foot and a rooster on the other were said to protect a
seaman from drowning. Neither animal can swim and it was thought they would help
get the sailor swiftly to shore if he fell into the water.
Other popular tattoos amongst sailors are also attributed with particular
meanings:
- a full-rigged ship shows the seaman has sailed round Cape Horn
- an anchor indicates he has sailed the Atlantic Ocean
- a dragon denotes that the bearer has served on a China station
- a shellback turtle shows the sailor has crossed the equator
- 'HOLD' tattooed on the knuckles of one hand and 'FAST' on the other were said
to allow the bearer to grip the rigging better.
That's all folks
American George C. Reiger Jr boasts over 1000 tattoos based on Disney
characters, including all 101 dalmatians.
Reiger had his first Disney tattoo - an inked version of Fantasia's sorcerer
Mickey - at the age of 18. Since then he has been adding characters and now the
tattoos cover over 80 per cent of his body.
The tattoos are carefully positioned. Villains are consigned to his legs below
the knee, while anything under the sea is situated below his stomach. Other
characters are also grouped by theme.
Because the characters are copyright, Reiger has had to seek permission from
Disney and now claims to be the only person in the world with such
authorization. He says he received it on the condition that he's not allowed to
go to a tattoo parlour, appear in a tattooing magazine or make money out of his
tattoos.
Sharing the pain
In the Pacific island of Samoa a chief would pay for his son and other
lower-ranking males to be tattooed in the same ceremony.
The tattooing ceremony was considered so important in Samoa that houses were
erected specially for the event. Lavish feasts were prepared and entertainments
laid on for those attending. Although the ceremony revolved around the tattooing
of the chief's son, his lower-status contemporaries were also tattooed at the
chief's expense. These youths supported the chief's son and shared his pain. By
subjecting himself to the painful process of tattooing, the chief's son was
demonstrating his bravery at the same time as showing his respect for his elders
by submitting to their will.
Taking the p***
Urine was sometimes used to mix the coloring matter of early tattoos.
Early coloring materials for tattoos included soot or ink for blue-black and
brick dust for reds. To work, these needed to be bound together by a mixing
agent. Often the tattooist used his own spittle to mix the color but
occasionally urine was used instead. Until 1891, when the first electric
tattooing machine was patented by Tom Riley, all colors were applied by hand.
Early tattooing tools were rather like pen holders with a number of needles set
into them.
Ring for action
The tattooing machine is based on the design of the doorbell.
The quick poking action of a tattooing machine, which injects the ink into the
skin, is driven by an electric circuit very similar to that which operates the
household doorbell. Modern tattoo artists work with a number of tattooing
machines, each reserved to inject a different color. The number of needles set
in the machine and their fineness depends on what the machine is being used for.
Finer needles are used for outlines, while coarser needles are used for filling
in or for shading.
In prison, where tattooing machines are banned, inmates have been known to make
their own makeshift tattooing machines using guitar strings and the motor from a
tape deck.
Snake charmer
Lady Randolph Churchill
Winston Churchill's mother, Lady Randolph Churchill, had a snake tattooed on her
wrist.
It became fashionable in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for aristocrats,
including women, to be tattooed. At the time, tattooing was very expensive and
people paid large sums for their designs. Later, as the costs were reduced,
tattooing was adopted by the lower classes and the practice fell out of favor
with the social elite.
The strategic positioning of Lady Churchill's tattoo meant that she could choose
not to display it by wearing a bracelet to cover it.
Dangerous bodies
Tahitians believed that the process of tattooing the body served to contain its
sacred power.
The Polynesian view of the body differed from that of the Europeans. Polynesians
believed that there were two worlds: the world of light and ordinary life (ao)
and the world of darkness and gods (po). Humans came from po at birth and
returned there at death. This gave the body a potentially dangerous primal
power, which would overcome the present world if it was not contained. A number
of rites from infancy onwards were designed to restrain this power by lessening
the body's sacredness.
In Tahiti, these rites culminated in the act of tattooing the body around the
time of puberty in order to 'seal off' its power.
Costing an arm and a leg
Removing a tattoo can cost up to three times more than the design itself.
Tattoos last forever and sometimes a tattoo can become an embarrassment in later
life. Because tattoos lie in the deep layer of skin known as the dermis, they
are very difficult to remove. Early forms of tattoo removal included the
injection or application of wine, lime, garlic or pigeon excrement.
Unsurprisingly, none of these methods was effective. Later removal techniques
include dermabrasion, when the skin is effectively 'sanded down', and excision,
in which the tattoo is surgically removed. Both methods result in scarring.
In the late 1980s laser surgery became popular for tattoo removal. However, the
treatment is not cheap and can cost thousands of pounds, depending on the
tattoo's size, type and location.
Signs of faith
Early Christians often had the sign of the cross tattooed on their bodies,
particularly their face or arms.
Such tattoos were seen as a permanent mark of the believer's faith. However,
around AD 325 the Emperor Constantine outlawed tattooing of the face because he
believed that the face was in God's image and should not be disfigured. In AD
787, a council of churches meeting in Calcuth, Northumberland, renounced all
forms of tattooing and sealed the fate of the practice in the eyes of the
Christian church once and for all.
Much later, a representation of the crucifixion tattooed on a slave's back was
said to preserve the bearer from a whipping. It was thought that no Christian,
however cruel, would lash the image of Christ.
Human curiosity
The first tattooed man to be shown publicly in England was a Pacific islander
known as Prince Joely.
Prince Joely, also known as Giolo, was brought to England in 1691 by William
Dampier, a famous buccaneer and author of a Voyage Around the World, an account
of his travels with privateers and pirates. Dampier explained to those who came
to view the Prince Joely that his tattoos were done in the same manner as the
crosses and arms of visitors to Jerusalem, but using the sap of a certain tree
instead of gunpowder.
Sadly, Prince Joely never returned home to the Pacific. He died in England of
smallpox.
Close to the bone
The severity of pain experienced when being tattooed depends on the location of
the tattoo.
The most painful areas are those where the skin is very close to the bone, such
as the ankles, elbows and knees. It is less painful to be tattooed on more
fleshy areas such as the chest or upper arms. Pain was an important part of
tattooing for Polynesian societies.
In Tahiti, the chief's son was watched closely as he was tattooed for signs of
pain. In Samoa, it was often said that tattooing was the equivalent for men of
the great pain a woman endured when giving birth.
Point taken
Samoan tattoo artists used combs to apply their designs.
On the Pacific island of Samoa, tattooist carried out their art by dipping the
pointed teeth of combs into ink and placing them on the surface of the skin. The
comb was then tapped so that the teeth punctured the skin, inserting the ink.
Both men and women had their bodies tattooed and elaborate designs could take
several months to complete. In Samoan tradition, tattoos were restricted to the
lower part of the body.
Your Face Here
 The
madly-tattooed TV stuntman and Jackass star Steve-O is in the
Guinness Book of World Record for the “largest self-portrait tattoo”.
Steve-O also has the phrase "Your Name" tattooed on his right buttock.
Longest Tattoo Session
WHO: Glen Keizer & Paul Blackhall
WHAT: 42 hr 10 min
WHERE: Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia
WHEN: September 16-18, 2005
The longest tattoo session lasted for 42 hr 10 min and was completed by Glen
Keizer and Paul Blackhall (both Australia) at Outta Limits Tattoo and Body
Piercing Studio, Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia between September 16-18,
2005.
Most Tattooed Person
WHO: Lucky Diamond Rich
WHAT: 100%
WHERE: Australia, born in New Zealand
WHEN: As of 2006
The ultimate in multi-layered tattooing is represented by the chainsaw juggling,
unicycling, sword-swallowing Lucky Diamond Rich (Australia, born New Zealand),
who has spent over 1,000 hours having his body modified by hundreds of tattoo
artists. He began by having a full collection of colorful designs from around
the world tattooed over his entire body. But not content with stopping there,
Lucky next opted for a 100% covering of black ink, including eyelids, the
delicate skin between the toes, down into the ears, and even his gums. He is now
being tattooed with white designs on top of the black, and colored designs on
top of the white!
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