Celtic Tattoos The Celts are an ancient people, who probably originated in India tens of thousands of years ago. After arriving in Italy, they made their way north-east through France to the United Kingdom. The Gauls were dominant in France by the time the Romans got there a little more than two thousand years ago, but the Celts were rock-solid in the UK. In those days, the Celts lived all over the UK, but the Roman invasion drove them back into the extremities of the land. As the Romans defeated the Celts in south-east Britain, the tribes either moved to Scotland or Wales or they mixed with the Roman invaders. British Celts were famous for their skin modifications, which is the contemporary terminology for tattoos and body art. The Celts and the Picts were body painters extraodinnaire. However, that was before Christianity. After Christianity came to the UK, the Celtic Cross became an vital symbol of Celtic symbology. However, there are other Celtic symbols too. The Welsh dragon is a Celtic symbol too. The Celts believed in fairies, so fairies are also Celtic symbols. The legends of King Arthur and the knights of the round table are also Celtic, as is Avalon and Camelot, no matter what the English tell you. Ireland is also a prominent Celtic country and many Celtic symbols come from there too, The well-known Claddagh Ring is a typical Celtic design - the never-ending strings or ropes of time. Druids are also a powerful symbol of Celtic culture and the druids held oak trees in high esteem. Retro is a big thing in modern fashion as people are starting to disbelieve the myth that times will always be better. Young people are searching back for a restarting point, but as that is difficult to find, they are picking up on symbols of their history. For lots of people of British origin, this is Celtic. For others, it is simply the romanticism of Celtic folklore. The Mabignogion, fairies, druids, dragons, King Arthur and the knights of the round table are all powerful images in peoples' subconscious. People like to fantasise about the supernatural in these days of the cold, calculating computers, which regulate our lives. If you want to have a Celtic tattoo, you are almost certainly of Celtic descent and so you will already have an idea of the type of tattoo that you would like to have. It may be a good idea to look for a tattoo artist who has knowledge of Celtic traditions and Celtic tattoos. This way, you may be more certain of the authenticity of your tattoo, if you are not au fe with Celtic graphics or tattoos. Celtic tattoos could be classed as tribal tattoos - north-estern European tribal tattoos, but what most people do not know is that Britain was called that because its peoples wore body art and the Scottish Picts were called that because they wore skin paint. The Celts were among the first to use body art, but absolutely not the only ones.
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on fairly a number of topics, but is currently involved with Anchor Tatoos. If you want to know more go to our website at White Ink Tatoo.