Celtic Symbols As Tattoo Designs

Many people today are using Celtic symbols as tattoo designs. The Celtic tradition gives you many good choices for tattoos –knotwork, crosses, spirals and animal images to name a few. Celtic style tattoos are sometimes categorized as tribal tattoos. Some might dispute this, but in truth the ancient Celts, from around the time of the Roman empire through the Middle Ages did have a tribal way of life, like many Europeans. Celtic knotwork and spiral images like the triskele do have a definitely tribal appearance.

One reason that Celtic symbols are so popular as tattoos is simply that they are very decorative and beautiful to look at. They are also very adaptable to many different styles, sizes and colors. You can use Celtic style borders around any kind of tattoo, or you can create a design that is totally Celtic.

One type of Celtic image that is very recognizable and make for great tattoos are depictions of animals or mythic creatures. These are sometimes called zoomorphic images. These images can be of many types of animals, real or imaginary, such as birds, lions, horses, dragons and sea creatures. Many of these designs can be found in the medieval Irish manuscript, The Book of Kells. The original of this book is in Dublin, but many copies have been published over the years.

Some of these images go back a lot further in time, to pre-Christian tales of shapeshifters, such as Amergin, who transformed into many different types of animal. This connects the Celts to many shamanic traditions, where shapeshifting is often mentioned. It also gives a special magical meaning to depictions of animals or mythic beasts.

The Celts have a long history that includes many fascinating characteristics. On the one hand, the Celts were fearsome warriors, so you have imagery that depicts this aspect of their culture -swords, shields and other weapons. On the other hand, the Celts have a love of words, poetry and music, so you have the traditions of the bards, storytellers and musicians. Celtic harps are among the designs you often find as tattoo symbols.

Did the ancients Celts actually tattoo themselves? It’s an interesting question, especially given how popular Celtic tattoos have become. The history on this question is somewhat vague. For one thing, the ancient Celts did not believe in keeping written records, so a lot of what we know about them comes from accounts taken by others, usually their enemies. It is known that the Celts painted themselves, especially before battle. There is, however, no definite evidence that they used permanent tattooing.

The above point shows how modern tattooing can take aspects of ancient cultures and put them in new forms. For we see a similar thing with Chinese culture, which has, over the centuries, mostly held negative ideas about tattoos but which has still inspired many modern tattoos which make use of intricate Chinese symbols and characters.

Whatever its place in history, the use of Celtic symbols as tattoo designs is sure to remain popular, as it provides skilled tattoo artists with an almost unlimited wellspring of beautiful designs that are at once traditional and uniquely modern.