History Of The Swallow Tattoo Design

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Friday, October 12th, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed

Swallow Tattoo Design History - Heroic Symbolism
If you would like to express your creative and artistic talents to the world then having a tattoo is the perfect way to make your statement to the world. People get tattoos for a variety of reasons, it could represent a particular milestone, a religion, a belief or purely a symbol of what is important to you. On the other hand many people just love the art and creativeness that is part of wearing a tattoo.

While I was researching to write this swallow tattoo design review I stumbled upon the heroic history behind this tattoo and thought I would share it would you. The swallow tattoo design is probably one of the most misunderstood and controversial designs around today. It has, overtime, caused quite an uproar when people have chosen this design without really knowing the true meaning of it. Here are a few of the interesting history facts about the swallow tattoo design so that you can know what it truly represents.What It Symbolizes

There is a variety of stories or assumptions being thrown around about the history of the swallow tattoo, however, the real story behind it involves sailors which were known to have endured the hardships of a life at sea as they traveled their arduous journeys. The historical sailors wore the swallow tattoo as a symbol that represented their sailing experience and nautical skills.

The bluebird is represented in the image of the swallow tattoo and was usually placed on the chest of the sailors. The legend goes that to earn one swallow on your chest you had to have sailed 5,000 miles at sea, and 10,000 miles was represented by two bluebirds. In centuries past traveling great distances at sea was both challenging and extremeley dangerous, so to survive these conditions the sailors would have had exceptional sailing and nautical skills and well deserved the number of swallows that they proudly wore on their chests.

Why did the sailors choose to place the serene swallow over their heart as a representation of the hardships that they endured? As with a lot of things in history there is a legend in place behind the choice of symbol - the bluebirds were a representation of hope and freedom and if the sailor was to drown or meet some misfortune at sea then it was said that the bluebirds would accompany their souls safely to heaven. Today the swallow symbolizes many things including love and affection, however for the sailor I think the most import representation of the swallow tattoo was that they would return home safely.

After reviewing the history of the swallow tattoo design I believe that the enduring popularity of nautical themed tattoo art is evident, and I am sure it will continue for many years to come.

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