A tattoo is a
great way of projecting your individuality and personality to the outside
world. A tattoo tells others lots about your nature and approach to life. This
is why it is important that lots of thought is placed on choosing the right
tattoo design for yourself.
You can choose
tattoo designs based on animals, birds, snakes or some other signs through
which is it possible for you to express your personality like an anchor or a
heart. One of the tattoo designs that have great meaning in the tattoo world is
the bird tattoo.
The reason for
the added meaning in the bird tattoo is that since the beginning of time, birds
have always been used to symbolize the human spirit and soul in all cultures
worldwide. In fact, birds have also been associated to the divine in many
religions and cultures. It was because of the fact that birds travel in the air
that they were considered to be communing directly to the gods.
Birds are also
considered to be guides that carried the spirits of the dead to the heavens.
Ancient stories tell of birds accompanying heroes on their quests in defeating
villains, dragons and monsters. This was because the bird has the capacity of
flying ahead, and warning the hero of any danger. So if you have a belief in
all these qualities and capacities of a bird helping mankind, you could have a
bird tattoo drawn on your body.
In addition to
all this, birds have always been associated with magic, religion and the
supernatural. This is why there are images of birds everywhere from the mummies
of Egyptian crypts to the Arapaho Indian Ghost Dance costumes. Even the
Judeo-Christian adaptations of angels and cherubs have bird like wings, keeping
the values of birds in mind. Moreover, in most cases, the bird has always been
portrayed as a positive and uplifting symbol.
When you choose
a bird tattoo design, the design is usually of two birds together where one is
dark, and the other light. Sometimes one may in color and the other in black
and white too. The reason for two colors being used in bird tattoos is to
depict the duality of nature like darkness and light, happiness and sadness.
Sometimes this
duality quality of birds is symbolized with a tattoo of a bird and another
animal like a bird fighting a snake to represent good versus evil. Then again
the bird tattoo is also included in other tattoo pictures like the addition of
birds in the branches of a tree of life design.
There are also
some other interpretations for birds like sexual connotations. The Chinese
consider the meaning of its Chinese word to be similar to the meaning of the
penis. Whereas, the image of the ‘cock’ tends to be related to the penis. So if
you are a sexually oriented person, the bird tattoo could be something to think
about. However instead of this meaning, it is the other interpretation of the
bird that is taken into consideration when a person sees a bird tattoo.
