Tats in Period

[F.L. Watkins]

To my fellow inked Scadians:

I just picked up TOTAL TATTOO BOOK by Amy Krakow (Warner Books,
ISBN 0-446-67001-4; $11.95; highly recommended for people
interested in getting ink). The following is from the chapter
on "The Tattoo in History":

In Western Europe, pre-Celtic Iberians in
the British Isles tattooed ceremonially and so did
the Gauls. Teutonic peoples tattooed. The Danes, Norse
and Saxons, being more cultured and artistic peoples,
tattooed their family symbols and crests. Scots and
other Anglo-Saxons still tattoo family crests--tattooist
Lyle Tuttle is a well-known example of this practice!
The early history of Western tattooing ended in
AD 787, when Pope Hadrian banned the art form. Tattooing
survived in Britain until the Norman invasion of 1066.
Normans scorned tattoos, but "like Anglo-Saxon kings
before him, King harold was heavily tattooed. When
his body was recovered from the battlefield of Hastings,
it was identified by the word 'Edith' tattooed over his
heart." (George Burchett, _Memoirs of a Tattooist_) After
the Norman invasion, there's little mention of tattooing
in Western culture from the twelfth to the sixteenth
centuries.

So, okay, you early-period types may not have cannon,
but you do have tats...

Anyway, look up this book (it's just out) if you're
thinking of getting some ink. Nice photos, nice articles
and a list of shops state by state, city by city.

Yrs, Folo (and please note: all Folos got tats)
--
Damin de Folo - F.L.Watkins - fo...@prairienet.org
Baron Wurm Wald (MK) - Commander Baldwin's Reg't (NWTA)
"I'm not quite clear about what you just spoke--
Was that a parable or a very subtle joke?"-Crash Test Dummies