Skulls and skeletons tattoos (3)

Besides those already mentioned, there are some other meanings of the skulls tattoos that have their roots in some ancient beliefs and practices.

Skulls as trophies - it was a common practice to keep the skulls of the killed enemies and to display them as trophies (eg.: to decorate with them the city walls and towers, to keep the skulls on the palisades as a warning sign, to display them on pikes at the Traitor's Gate, etc) or even to use them as wine-cups. Skulls-tattoos as trophies are a very common theme when it comes to the gang tattoos, prison tattoos, etc. For example, if we consider the russian criminal tattoos, a skull tattoo signifies murder (a significant one). When a tattoo design combines skulls with military insignia (especially with the epaulets tattooed on the shoulders), it usually designates a murderer.

The epaulets are distinctive decorations for the inmates who are members of the "Vory V Zakone" (aprox "Thieves in law"). An inmate who has this kind of tattoo is a person with a high position in the prison hierarchy. The presence of the skull designates the wearer as a murderer. Read more about this topic on this blog: russiancriminaltattoo.blogspot.com


A russian criminal tattoo. The presence of the epaulets indicates that the wearer has a high rank in the prison hierarchy. The presence of the skull designates the wearer as a murderer. The spider is a symbol with multiple meanings; it may symbolize racism, doing time in prison, drug addicted, etc. Read more about this topic on this blog: russiancriminaltattoo.blogspot.com

In the Mexican tattoo-culture, skulls and skeletons are linked with the celebration of the Day of the Dead. The most common themes and representations are: the sugar-skull (brightly colored and highly decorated), the partying skeletons (because El Dia de los Muertos is not a time for sadness, but for joy and celebration) and the in-loving-memory-tattoos (these tattoos include attributes of the passed person in the skull's design: her favourite flowers, his / her weaopns, facial features, etc).

In-loving-memory-tattoo. Some of the passed person's features are still present (the moustache and the hair)


Typical Mexican tattoo: a fancy dressed skeleton playing a violin


For the Mexicans, El Dia de los Muertos is not a mournful day, but a day of family gatherings and holiday cheer.

Alchemy and Magic - the skull is an ancient symbol and it has several embodiments of the alchemical “union of opposites”, an ancient doctrine which accepts a syncretism of conflicting views, a harmony as opposed to a never-ending conflict between Good and Evil.

The skull is a one of the alchemical symbols

Wisdom - sometimes, a skull tattoo is a symbol of the mature realization of a continuity of life into death, and the ability to accept death. This is very important because it is only when a person can live with the presence of death that he can fully learn to appreciate life.

A medieval depiction of the skull as a symbol of wisdom.

Related posts:
Various elements which can occur in a Death tattoo: skulls and skeletons (1)
Skulls and skeletons tattoos (2)
Death tattoo - various elements which can occur in a Death tattoo
Death tattoos: the main depictions of the Grim Reaper
Death Tattoos / Grim Reaper Tattoos: themes and meanings
Death tattoo - various elements which can occur in a Death tattoo - animals

Posted by Unknown 08:39 0 comments

Various elements which can occur in a Death tattoo: skulls and skeletons (1)

Human skulls and skeletons are one of the most common elements in the Grim Reaper tattoos, due to the fact that skeletons and skulls have long been associated with death and decay (sometimes Death himself is portrayed as a skeleton).

the modern society associates skulls with decay, death and evil

Skull tattoos do represent death, but they usually represent the fleetingness of life. Various Latin maxims and aphorisms: Memento Mori (Remember your mortality, Remember you must die or Remember you will die), Sic Transit Gloria Mundi (Thus passes the glory of the world), Carpe Diem (Seize the day), Ubi sunt...? (Where are...?) or Ubi nunc...? (Where now...?) - both of them are shortened variants of the Ubi sunt qui ante nos fuerunt? Where are those who were before us?) are very often included in the skull tattoo designs; their role is to remind us that Death comes to us all, and for this reason is important to enjoy every moment of life.

a very popular tattoo design: a skull and the latin maxim "Memento mori"

Seize the day or die regretting - a tattoo design which contains flowers (which symbolize brevity and the ephemeral nature of life) and a skull

Memento Mori - the skull is a reminder of the mortality

As a symbol of the certainty of death, skulls are one of the most common symbols used in the Vanitas art

vanitas tattoo containing a skull (a symbol of dead and mortality), several roses (symbols of the ephemeral nature of life), a candle (an object closely related with the cult of the dead) and a watch (a symbol of the inexorable flow of time)

Vanitas tattoo: the beauty is ephemeral, Death awaits every man and woman

a tattoo inspired by the illustration 'All is Vanity' by Charles Allan Gilbert

Despite the fact that the skull is often a symbol of mortality, a design which depicts a skull backed by a pair of wings (usually a pair of angelic wings, but this is not mandatory) is rather a positive design with various meanings: resurrection; death is the road to a new form of existence; the death frees one of the burdens of life; the progression of the human soul through the afterlife. Anyway, the winged skull is not always a positive design, having also many negative connotations: danger, death (death which can reach everyone everywhere), lawlessness (very common in the bikers-gang tattoos)

a winged skull tattoo

back tattoo: winged skull

many biker gangs adopt the winged skull as one of their emblems

The skull is also a symbol of the transitory nature of life and death, and for this reason some designers choose to include a skull into more complex designs which represent the infinite cycle of the life and death.

the death (symbolized here by the skull) is a part of the infinite cycle of life

Related posts:
Death tattoo - various elements which can occur in a Death tattoo
Death tattoos: the main depictions of the Grim Reaper
Death Tattoos / Grim Reaper Tattoos: themes and meanings
Death tattoo - various elements which can occur in a Death tattoo - animals

Posted by Unknown 04:55 0 comments

The mark of Cain: the russian criminal tattoos (VIII)

The mark of Cain: the russian criminal tattoos - the last episode

Posted by Unknown 02:41 0 comments

The mark of Cain: the russian criminal tattoos (III)

The mark of Cain: the russian criminal tattoo, episode 3. The first episode can be seen here and the second episode can be seen here.

Extras from this episode: The lowest category in the criminal world are the so-called Downcast. The men in the colony who fulfill, mostly by force, the female role. [...] These people (the Downcast) live separately, they eat separately,they sit apart in the mess hall. They don't have the right to look in the eyes of the other convicts. [...] Sometimes they have humiliating words (like slave, or bitch) tattooed on their faces, so they can be easily recognized when they arrive in a new prison.

Posted by Unknown 14:06 0 comments

The mark of Cain: the russian criminal tattoos (II)

The mark of Cain: the russian criminal tattoo, episode 2. The first episode can be seen here.

Did you know...?

- the cross is one of the most popular tattoo designs among the russian convicts. If an inmate has a tattoo with the representation of the crucifixion of Christ, it means that he (the inmate) is the leader of a criminal organization

Posted by Unknown 13:41 0 comments