Mayan Tattoo Style

Mayan Tattoo Style

The Mayan tattoos are one of the most beautiful tattoo designs that exist today. This kind of tattoo is one way to recreate an ancient history on your skin. Mayan tattoos are beautiful and have deep meaning; you will definitely be in awe when you see a Mayan tattoo designed by a skillful tattoo artist.

History of Mayan Tattoos

The Mayan tattoos started at the time of the ancient Mayans who originated from the race of Mesoamericans. They lived on the southern edge of North America in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. The race of Mayans started around 2600BC. Mayans by nature were very artistic race and their work of art has become popular choices for tattoo designs.

The Mayans practiced different types of body modification in order to please their gods, increase their personal beauty and even give their social status a boast. Those seen as the noble class in the Mayan culture performed as many body modification as they can afford, of course this is due to their believe that a man of status and class should have more extreme body modifications.

Men and women are both allowed to have tattoos in the Mayan culture, however most men preferred until they get married before getting their tattoo. In the other hand, their women preferred delicate tattoos on their upper bodies (excluding breasts), men however preferred their own tattoos on their backs, arms, face, hands and legs.

How Mayans Get their Tattoo

Getting a Mayan style tattoo is painful however it is an eternal mark of bravery and tenacity. To create the tattoo, the artist will first paint the design of the tattoo on the skin of individual and then gently cut the design into the skin. What now created the tattoo is the resulting scar. Of course, this process is very painful and in most cases led to illness and infection of the wound.

Meaning of Mayan Tattoo

Mayans believe in gods, their tattoo often represent their religious power, social status and their unique skills. They see tattoo as a sacrifice to gods; in this way, they are giving the gods their blood and their suffering. Their tattoos also signify the fortitude to deal with the pain and suffering.

Mayans created hundreds of symbols to express their spiritual beliefs and ideas, harmony and balance or the power of day and night. The nobles and warriors amongst them use powerful animals like eagles, serpents and jaguars in their tattoo. They also use feathered serpents as a symbol of their all-powerful god Kukulkan which represents wisdom and spirituality.  Eagles in Mayan tattoo symbolize foresight and flight while Jaguars represents power, stealth and bravery.

All these symbols and animals are still seen in the modern Mayan tattoo designs. The modern Mayan style tattoo makes use of Mayan arts which always look great in tattoo designs as simple, color tattoo with shading or outlined glyph.

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Modern Mayan Tattoo Symbols and Their Meanings

  1. Mayan Calendar Tattoo:

    This tattoo is believed to predict the end of the world. It is truly beautiful to behold and worth appreciating for its artistic value.

  2. Mayan Skull Tattoo:

    Mayan skull tattoo is a symbol of pride due to work that goes into designing it.

  3. Legends of the Hidden Temple Tattoo:

    Inspired by the “Legends of the Hidden Temple”. It stands out for its quality and intricacy.

  4. Mayan Sun Tattoo:

    It symbolizes the Mayans belief in the worship of the sun.

  5. Mayan Symbol Tattoo:

    This type of Mayan tattoo design symbolizes unity, peace, universe, balance and the wholeness. It is also called tattoo of Hunab Ku.

  6.  Mayan Jaguar Tattoo:

    Jaguar tattoo is a symbol of inter-relationship between man and the earth, life, underworld and fertility.

  7. Mayan Serpent Tattoo:

    The serpent symbolizes mystery, agility, potency and rebirth.

  8. Mayan Earth Symbol:

    It represents nature and growth.

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Creating a Maya Tattoo Design

Mayan tattoo looks great on those who have their ancestor from the Mayan culture, it is perfect for those who appreciate, respect and admire the ancient Maya culture. Talk with your tattoo artist to know which Mayan symbol will suit you the best. Most of the symbols require details which may not work in small tattoos because the ink will spread under the skin and blur the tattoo over time. Your artist may need to tweak, and re-tweak the design before he gets it perfect. Mayan tattoo design always looks awesome when done by a skillful tattooist.

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