Tattoo Tribal FAQ

Tattoo tribal FAQ is your guide to one of the most popular and exciting tattoo designs ever created. Here, we’ve done the work for you and researched the most perplexing and confusing aspects of tribal tattoo culture to give you a comprehensive source of information to help you with your own tribal tattoo choices.

Tattoo Tribal FAQ #1: Where do they come from?

First let’s define the tattoo tribal style. This term used to refer to all tattoos that didn’t come out of the West. (And that’s a lot) But today it is understood to mean those tattoos created in the islands of Polynesia, from Hawaii to New Zealand.

No place in the world is as responsible for the popularity of the tattoo as Polynesia. (The word tatu comes from the Tahitian.) In places like Borneo, Samoa, and the Marquesan islands the intricate sharp black patterns of the tattoo tribal style became developed and now offer the modern day tattoo customer a classic style enhanced with modern techniques.

Tattoo Tribal FAQ #2: What do they look like?

For the most part, the tattoo tribal style is distinguished by aggressive black lines that create circular and complex patterns of strength. (This is probably why guys who drive lifted trucks and wear backwards baseball caps like them so much.) One of the key features of the tattoo tribal style is its emphasis on delivering a feeling with the tattoo rather than a specific representation of a physical object. This has to do with the religious nature of the tattoo, which was used to ward off evil spirits and offer protection and guidance in the after life.

But like any style, the tattoo tribal design can be modified and combined with other tattoo designs to create a hybrid. Old world tribal tattoo influences mixed with…whatever you want.

Tattoo Tribal FAQ #3: Why are they so popular?

Well there are lots of reasons. Firstly, they look really cool. The tattoo tribal style was created to endow the wearer with strength and protection and this certainly comes across in a visual way. But perhaps the biggest reason is that this style can be adapted to any specific object. Examples can be found in the tribal butterfly tattoo and the tribal sun tattoo. By taking a somewhat traditional image and infusing with the tattoo tribal style you can get a tattoo that is fresh and cool and won’t go out of style anytime soon.