Celtic Design Tattoos

                                  A modern Celtic Butterfly Tattoo

Ancient Celts became famous over the years for their talent of crafting intricate symbols wrought in precious metals.  Yet they were perhaps most famous from an early age as fearless warriors made more so by their tradition of painting or tattooing their bodies blue. Although not considered Celtic tattoo art until modern days, their tattoos depicted various symbols each conveying a different message in the hope of providing protection and courage.

Celtic tattoos in history
Celtic symbolism was depicted in a variety of shapes and/or characters familiar in everyday Celtic life.  The ancient Celts used symbols as a way to record their ideas and beliefs due to there being no written word  The reasoning or meanings as well as their art works were passed down from generation to generation.  However while the actual symbols and designs have managed to survive intact the meanings attributed have become murky and diluted.  While the ancients were a people who appreciated beauty and showed this in their design they coupled it with functional meaning.  What is left of these ancient pagan designs exists in only a few artworks scattered across Ireland.

This is why today much of the Celtic design tattoos that exist are courtesy of the Christian monks who appreciated their beauty and used them to illustrate their many manuscripts, stone carvings and Christian books.  This is also the reason why many of the ancient pagan meanings have been lost or forgotten.

Common Celtic design tattoos
What we see today adorning bodies of all shapes and sizes are tattoos that take the form of animals, Celtic crosses and knot works.  While Celtic knot work can stand alone as a thing of beauty when it portrays symbolic meaning, it is perhaps the most prolific as it is easily coupled with any and all Celtic symbols.  Celtic knot work is often seen in animal designs as well as Celtic crosses and even tribal tattoos.  

Celtic knot work takes many forms too from simple strands to highly intricate spirals, whorls, knots and plaits all interwoven with each other and it is this interweaving that speaks their message.   

Intricate knot work depicting loops that have no beginning or no ending signify the cycle of dying and rebirth or the never-ending love of God, the love between man and woman, family or friendship.  When they are embellished with spirals that do have a beginning and ending they represent a deeper meaning and one of the crossing between the physical and the spiritual.  The strands that make the Celtic knot symbolize life, love, and faith.   

The Celtic Cross tattoos on the other hand while being a favorite design is most commonly used to depict the wearer's Christian faith.  When designed in its truest form it creates a form of Celtic tattoo art that is simple and one that can trace its roots back to the ancient arts practiced by the Druids.

The Celtic cross is today used as a visual means of representing both faith and heritage or each separately.  Throughout Europe when Celtic art spread in popularity it was used as a symbol of protection.  Thanks to the Christian monks the Celtic cross had by this time evolved to include intricate knot works which featured designs signifying Gods never ending love.
 
Animal Celtic art designs
The ancient Celts paid great reverence to all life forms and depicted many animals in their art and on their bodies in the hope of transferring each animal’s particular traits to themselves.  Many animal designs are made up of pure knot work which spiral into zoomorphic elements. 

The snake is one of the earliest Celtic tattoo designs.  Due to the habit of the snake shedding its skin the Celts attributed the meaning of rebirth to it.  Horses were much revered due to their elegance, nobility and strength. Dogs on the other hand depicted divinity while a rooster represented a new day or a new start. 

Although favored by the more feminine, butterfly’s played a big role in Celtic symbolism.  The Celts were rooted in symbolism, transformation, inspiration and rebirth and saw all these meanings encapsulated in the butterfly.  Rebirth especially was highly important as it depicted the shedding of the old both spiritually and physically.  It spoke of the struggle involved in the struggle of the butterfly from pupa to adulthood.  In terms of transition they admired and took inspiration from the vast energy needed by this fragile creature to complete its metamorphosis. Without which it could not become what it was destined to be.