Tribal tattoos have been around for a very long time, and they have long been the fascination of people in every walk of life. The tribal tattoo is essentially a symbolic and artistic design that in the tribes, even those still around today, have great meaning and demand great respect. Often these tattoos are the mark of a warrior, or of bravery, manhood, or right of passage.

In western culture the tribal tattoos don’t carry the same meanings or often even respect. They are essentially done for their beauty and vanity purposes. Many tribal tattoos are very cool to look at and make someone look intense. The elaborate design of a tribal tattoo comes in many shapes but the most popular is the one that wraps around the forearm.

Today’s tattoos are often the mark of a design that is highly personal to the individual who got the tattoo, but in the ancient tribes these tribal tattoos were important to everyone in the tribe. They also marked what tribe you came from so if two tribes were feuding or fighting for land, food, or shelter these tribal tattoos acted as uniforms to let people know what tribe they represented. Unless you were in the particular tribe you didn’t know what these markings meant, but everyone in the tribes themselves did.

The lower back is a very common place for a tribal tattoo. It is not unusual to see a pattern of a heart or a rose on a woman’s back. Men go more for the tiger or even a scorpion.  Zodiac symbols are very popular as well.

There are families that are hard core into getting tattoos and have adopted this concept in their “branding” tattoo designs. It is actually quite interesting when you see this however the evolution of the tattoo to a more personal form of artwork expressing an individuals thoughts, passions, or memories in the western world is also a fascinating concept when you think about how powerful a tattoo is in giving strangers clues into what drives the other person. Often great tribal tattoos can be a wonderful ice breaker, especially for shy people who have a hard time generating conversations with people they don’t know. Often it is an intriguing idea to get a tattoo and assign meaning to it so you will have something to talk about. People who have tribal tattoos will often automatically take on a tribal like approach to others like a big family and will feel an instant rapport with others with a similar tattoo to their own!