TATTOO DESIGNS & SYMBOLS - NTattoo Designs & Symbols provides tattoo meanings, overviews and explanations of some of the most popular tattoo designs in the world today. Tattoo symbols & designs on this
page all start with the letter N.
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Native American tattoos - Native American tattoo designs and symbols - much like tattoos
designs described as "Polynesian tattooing" - is an enormous area of
tattooing culture to cover. As in Polynesia with the many diverse
far-flung cultures of the South Pacific, native North America was
and is made up of hundreds and hundreds of culturally distinctive
indigenous peoples.
Traditional tattooing in North America has largely disappeared, with
isolated exceptions. The primary reasons for this were a combination
of the early colonization of much of the continental United States
by European settlers, Canada, and Mexico and the practice of
religious conversion of the native populations and widespread
pressures for the indigenous peoples to abandon their traditional
spiritual and cultural practices like tattooing and become assimilated into the
European population...
more
Nautical or Maritime Tattoos -
are tattoos derived from the very roots and history of modern
tattooing. Sailors were among the first to revive the art and
practice of tattooing when they visited the islands of Polynesia in
the South Pacific and other lands in Southeast Asia. Captain Cook in
his famous explorations to Tahiti, Hawaii and New Zealand was the
first to record the tattooing of the indigenous people in 1786. The
word tattoo in the English language come from the Tahitian word, 'ta-taw',
which was thought to mimic the sound made by the traditional
Polynesian tattooing implements as they made a tattoo. When the
sailors returned to Europe with tattoos that were essentially exotic
souvenirs of their travels and adventures, European audiences were
fascinated.
And of course many sailors at sea often thought of their families
and the girls they had left behind in port, whether it was one port
or two ports or even more! Mermaids and pin-up girls, hearts & the
names of loved ones were... more
Nautical Star - The nautical star is a very old modern tattoo, going back at
least a century or more. Back in the days of yore, before modern
navigation, sailors would navigate in part by the stars in the night
skies, in particular the North Star in the Northern Hemisphere, and
various other constellations of stars in the night sky. In the
Southern Hemisphere, sailors had to use different stars and the
Southern Cross became quite well-known. Sailors would then tattoo
nautical stars on them because they relied on the stars to take them
home, and being superstitious, they hoped their star tattoos would
get them home safely as well.
Compass stars are also popular for this reason. The nautical
stars were originally used by sailors to help guide their way as
they sailed through the night. They relied upon the stars to protect
them and bring them home safely.
A lot of soldiers get nautical stars for the same reason... more
Number Tattoos -
Numbers can make for fascinating tattoo designs. Who - in a moment
of truth - wouldn't confess to having a personal number they
consider "Lucky". And does anyone on a sports team want Jersey
Number 13, or to work on the thirteenth floor of an office tower? In
fact, the superstition against the number thirteen is so strong that
most buildings "skip" the thirteenth floor as if didn't even exist!
Johnny Depp has the number 3 tattooed on his left hand, on the web of his
hand between his thumb and his forefinger. David Beckham has his
lucky number 7 (VII) in Roman numerals...
more
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