Hardly will you find someone who is not fascinated about getting tattoos. This fascination started in my early teens and I got my first tattoo in my early 20s. Well, everyone knows what a tattoo is. Let me define it in my way. A tattoo is a design or pattern we do on our skin, permanently or temporarily, inserting tattoo ink-colorful or black. This culture started all the way back in 3000 B.C.! They used to practice tattoo culture to identify criminals or enslaved people.
If a person gets two or more tattoos on their body, we call it heavily tattooed. People who love to express themselves get heavy tattoos on their bodies. They believe their body is a canvas where they can portray themselves fully. Some people also do that out of passion and self-confidence. Heavy tattoos have its own story, including the whole concept, its evolution, and other reasons behind getting that.
Key Takeaways
- The concept and perception of heavily tattooed differs from person to person. Some reject while others embrace.
- The reasons a person chooses to get heavily tattooed range from social to individual reasons.
- Heavy tattoos’ evolution and perception have changed since it was invented this concept.
Concept of Heavily Tattooed
The word ‘heavy’ gives us a hint to understanding the concept of a heavy tattoo. As you can see, whenever we see someone having a tattoo on their neck or face, we give weird reactions toward them. Still, society does have objections towards those heavily tattooed communities. That is all about cultural and social concepts which I will get to later. But first, let’s try to understand heavy tattoo a bit more.
What is Considered Heavy Tattoo?
I want to add a few points here to clarify the whole concept of heavy tattoos. First of all, if you think that tattoo numbers matter the most to define a human body that is heavily tattooed, then you are wrong! Maybe you have seen someone with so many miniature tattoos on their body. But does that mean that person is heavily tattooed? No. The size and placement of your tattoo matter the most here. If the size of your tattoo covers fifty percent of your body, you can say that it is a heavy tattoo. On the other hand, you cannot count those tattoos that cover only ten to twenty percent of your body part.
Last but not the least, the concept of heavy tattoo depends upon personal preference and individual style. Different people have different concepts about heavy tattoo. Someone who is heavily tattooed may say they are not that heavily tattooed. While others would see a half-sleeve and justify that is heavily tattooed! As you can see different people have different opinions so there. So at the end of the day, it is all about what someone you might think about the tattoo and what is considered to be heavy.
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What are The Reason Behind Choosing a Heavy Tattoo?
There are some major reasons behind choosing a heavy tattoo that I would like to discuss. Those are- Historical & Cultural reasons, Spiritual & religious reasons, and Social & Individual.
Historical & Cultural Reason
To understand the historical & cultural reasons behind heavy tattoos, we need to visit our ancient culture when people used to get heavy tattoos for particular reasons. “Men’s legs should be decorated if they want to be called men”. This Dai proverb is already giving us a hint about the significance of heavy tattoos. Tribes used to maintain their old-age tradition via body art. There were women with face tattoos to symbolize maturity at twelve or thirteen. In Asian culture, was used to identify people based on caste and criminality.
An interesting fact about getting a heavy tattoo is it was much popular amongst indigenous people. Kankanaey people covered their arms, chest, and face with tattoos. Bontoc warriors used to get Chacklag tattoos, and enslaved people from the Philippines were supposed to get tattoos on their whole bodies.
Maori (indigenous people from New Zealand) peoples’ tattoo history is enriched because the word tattoo came from the Tahitian word tattau, which means to strike or tap. The Maori got tattoos to symbolize social rank and ancestry.
During the late 19th century, circus women used to be known as tattooed ladies who used to have tattoos on their faces, arms, hands, necks, and other visible areas. Now, if you think that the tradition or impact of a heavy tattoo got limited between ancient people or people from various entertainment sectors, then you are completely wrong!
Spiritual & Religious Reasons
People practice tattoo making not only for social or cultural purposes but also for spiritual and religious significance. A human can never deny the fact of philosophies, religions, and spirituality in our life. Religious tattoos became popular to symbolize devotion and divine protection.
From Buddhism to Judaism, every religion has its significant symbolizations which people love to carry on their bodies to improve their spiritual energy. I want to share the name of the symbols with you, such as trees (Bodhi tree in Buddhism), anchor, cross, dove (symbolizing hope, eternal love, and holy spirit accordingly in Christianity), Om (symbol of Hinduism), water, infinity, wings, yin, and yang, etc. The symbols I have mentioned now have a vast impact on those who love spirituality. And people also like to get heavily tattooed when it comes to having a tattoo that has depth, both spiritually and philosophically.
Social & Individual Reason
The influence of heavy tattoos in our social and individual life is beyond description. Vladimír Franz- a heavily tattooed person was registered as a candidate in the 2013 Czech presidential election, but he had his body tattooed for his expression of free will.
Some social reasons behind an individual getting heavy tattoos are- increasing social awareness, reminding people of some tragic phenomenon, cherishing a national memory, paying tribute to National Level Influencers, etc.
From an individual perspective, there might be many reasons behind choosing heavy tattoos. They are- to create a statement to the world, to take risks and feel the thrill, to make self-expression and identity, and to improve one’s self-esteem. So, a heavily tattooed person can also be a part of our society, whose roles are equally important as other social people.
The Evolution of Tattoo
As we know about the reason behind getting a heavy tattoo, let us take a look at the evolution of getting it. Women were more used to getting tattoos for various reasons. Royal concubines, dancing girls, prostitutes, pregnant- these women used to get tattoos massively during the ancient period. Roman and Greek people used to practice tattoos to enhance the beauty of their bodies. Though it was mostly about religion, symbolization, marking, and politics, it changed gradually with time.
In the United States, the native Americans are the best examples of tattoo evolution. They had two periods to signify the change in tattoo. The pre-colonial period when they used to tattoo to honor their ancestors and become closer to them. And the colonial period people used to get tattoos for warfare against the Europeans. This shows how tattoo art also changed to match the ideology of the time.
Nowadays, getting a heavy tattoo is not a big deal and has become a popular business. Many tattoo enthusiasts become artists and open their own parlors. People have become more liberal and started accepting heavily tattooed generations as normal human beings. People get heavy tattoos to show their spirituality, love, gratitude, individuality, and energy.
Perception Towards Heaviness In Tattoos
Heavily tattoo means it will be visible to your neck and face. So you might get negative reactions from people. You will find people who deny your body freedom from your workplace to family parties. As history says, people used tattoos to identify certain types of people who were not given that much importance in society, so from that point of view, heavily tattooed individuals are always neglected.
Again, it is not like heavily tattooed people are always neglected. Society has changed its view of people who like to show confidence via heavy tattoos. Even workplaces have started taking those things lightly unless you have to attend some serious meeting.
The perception towards the heaviness of tattoos may vary from place to place, society to society, country to country- you cannot blame any particular society for their perception towards you as a heavily tattooed person. So no matter what, you must simultaneously accept negativity and positivity.
FAQs
Why do people get heavily tattooed?
People get heavy tattoos to show the world how much they feel proud of themselves and want to improve their self-esteem.
What kind of people has a lot of tattoos?
Most likely, men and women between their 20s and 30s get a lot of tattoos. And this age limit can increase up to 40 as well.
How does society view tattoos?
Nowadays, people have accepted heavily tattooed personalities though some superstitions are still regarding acceptance and all; it is ok! People are becoming more and more mainstream, and their acceptance is growing.
Final Thoughts
To sum up, in this modern era, people have chosen heavy tattoos to show up their self-expression and power to society. We are technologically going ahead, but our feelings and emotions are getting suppressed due to this reason. So, if you need a heavy tattoo to increase your self-confidence, you can also go for it! Your body is your canvas, so be into it and decorate it how you want it to.
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