Body Art

Till now, there is no agreement on origins of body art. The causes of making tattoos on humans vary from nation to nation. Generally, they could be categorized as follows.

Totems
In the view of culture, tattoos are seen as totem marks. In ancient times, it’s believed that people originate from some animals, plants and other objects which have special genetic relationships with them. Different people regard different animals, plants and other objects as their ancestors or guardian gods and they used to paint the worship images on their bodies as permanent marks. As time is passing by, different people in one nation tend to worship only one object which becomes s a national symbol. For instance, one tribe in the South Australia takes kangaroos as totems which symbolize the whole tribe.

Adulthood ceremonies

No anthropologists have ever denied that tattoos are closely related with adulthood. In many ethnic nations and tribes, actually, adulthood ceremonies are same as tattoo ceremonies. When a teenager reaches some certain age, he has to attend a special rite where his body would be painted with tattoos as adult marks. This custom is still popular in Australia and some African countries

Sexual attraction

Since tattoos mark the start of adulthood, the teens with tattoos prove to be mature enough to match the opposite sex for marriage. Some researchers hold that tattoos are body decorations for attraction of the opposite sex, as tattoos make bodies sexy and arouse heterosexual interests.

Decorations

In some nations, tattoos are seen as beautiful decorations on human bodies. It’s also a kind of special art which reflects the special aesthetic consciousness of a nation.

Identity marks

In ancient times, hunting and battles are major activities for tribes. Each tribe has a special permanent mark on members’ bodies, which is a tattoo, to identify their own members in battle confusions among tribes. Tattoos are also regarded as symbols of bravery in some nations. The Polynesians had tattoos on their bodies by winning many glories.

Social ranks

Tattoos are used to mark social ranks. In Marquesas Islands, for example, only the noble men have the right to make tattoos on whole bodies, from heads to toes, including fingers. For the Gaoshan people in Taiwan Island, there are detailed regulations on tattoos, such as age, body parts and colors, between civilians and aristocrats.

All in all, there are a variety of origin versions on tattoos which form a body art. Each version leads us to have a better understanding of it.