Hewitt (1997) correctly points out that humans have performed rituals to create order and predictability in an uncertain world throughout history and the rituals can be a piece of idiographic proof of a value system from a certain culture. In a similar vein, Bellah (1985) claims that rituals structure people’s minds and give them a sense of identity. When discussing the lack of rituals in contemporary society, […]
Continue ReadingTattoo Origin
Origins of Tattoos In his book Research on Tattoo Customs: with a Focus on Chinese and Japanese Tattoo Customs, Wang (2009) has summarised many reasons for tattooing shared by most cultures around the world: worship for totem, gods, and ancestors; the need of war; ritual for adulthood; witchcraft theory of healing diseases, expelling ghosts, and avoiding harm; […]
Continue ReadingChinese Tattoo Blog by Jenifer
Yesterday I accidently got encountered with Reed’s (2000) paper about Chinese tattoos and from him, I got to know a book called Youyang zazu (酉阳杂俎) documenting interesting, uncommon cultures of ancient China. There is a chapter about tattoos in the book, their purpose and specific designs which makes me wonder if there are specific themes for decorative tattoos back […]
Continue ReadingTattoo Debate
Guess all of us have experienced the feeling of` having two little people with completely opposite views in our head. One said, you must buy this! It is awesome, if you don’t, you will think about it for months and regret your decision. And the other one is like, but it is way too expensive… In contrast, having […]
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