What we didn't know about tattoos

They say that when a sailor who had lived with the natives in New Zealand for several years returned to Europe in the 19th century, he was taken to show him off as a rare curiosity. The ladies fainted when they saw him: the sailor’s entire body was covered with tattoos. This top ten includes something from the history of tattoos.

10th place: Perhaps one of the most unexpected was the fact that we were able to find in books on the history of Ancient Rus': among the ancient Slavs, tattoos were worn mainly by women. Drawings on the skin were a ritual amulet for the keeper of the hearth.

9th place: The Catholic Church is not at all against tattoos. When converting the natives to their religion, Catholics gave converts tattoos in the form of a cross or crucifix so that they could not convert to another faith. And now there are more than a hundred officially registered Christian tattoo associations that offer tattooing services with biblical scenes and canonical texts. If you want, you can even consecrate the tattoo.

8th place: In the British royal family, tattoos have also been approved, since 1862, when the future King Edward VII got a tattoo of a cross on his arm. Prince Charles also had a tattoo, but he removed it shortly before his wedding to Diana. King Harold of England had tattoos of scenes of military battles on almost his entire body.

7th place: John Kennedy had his tattoo removed only at the insistence of his wife (he had a turtle on his shoulder), and Winston Churchill had a tattoo of an anchor. By the way, in 1900 it was found that 90% of US Navy sailors have tattoos. The turtle means that the sailor has crossed the equator.

6th place: Albert Einstein, Nicholas II and Stalin also had tattoos.

5th place: Among Japanese geishas, ​​a tattoo was considered one of the five proofs of love. The other four are cutting the hair, writing a love vow, cutting the nails and finally cutting off the little finger.

4th place: The most vulgar tattoo was once on the shoulder of Joseph Kobzon. Imagine, it was an inscription made in blue ink: “I will not forget my dear mother.”

3rd place: The wittiest tattoo. During the Vietnam War, an American conscript got a tattoo of two obscene words on the edge of his right palm. The tattoo was only visible when he saluted, so he was not accepted into the army.

2nd place: The most “tattooed” person in the world lives on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. 99.9% of the surface of his skin is covered with a tattoo that follows the pattern of a leopard's skin. The only areas of his body not covered in tattoos were between his toes and inside his ears.

1st place: Victoria Beckham. She gets tattoos of the names of people dear to her on her, excuse me, butt. There is already a tattoo of her own name, the name of her husband and her first son. She recently got a tattoo on her other buttock with the name of her second son. By the way, they say that Victoria wants to leave show business and have five more children.