Swallow tattoos have been around for centuries. The bird is associated with wealth, health, and hardships related to travel by seas. Due to its early origin, the tattoo is considered an old school tattoo. With the revival of other old school tattoos, swallow tattoos have again become very popular.
Swallow birds and bird tattoos meaning
Swallow birds were most important to the sailors. When they spotted these birds flying overhead, it clearly meant that they were close to land. Therefore, for the sailors, the bird symbolized safety, land, security, happiness, etc. Before the invention of modern navigation technology, sailors were dependent on this bird and hoped to spot it on their way to home. These sailors chose to get swallow bird tattoo because they symbolized their desire to return home safely.
Swallow birds are also known for their distinct behavior of returning to their habitat every year. It is certainly nature's miracle because scientific research has shown that no matter where the bird is it comes to its habitat for sure. When the birds visit the habitat, they come in flocks of great numbers and it seems like they are celebrating their return to their homeland. Hence, the bird surely has exceptional navigational skills and understands the value of being together with the members of its flock. For this reason, swallow tattoos are preferred by people, who live away from home. The tattoo reminds them to return to home and meet with their family members.
Lastly, the bird is known to have a single mate for its entire lifetime. This trait brings this bird very close to human beings when it comes to love. Like humans, it believes in being loyal to one's mate. That is why swallow tattoos symbolize eternal love and lifetime commitment.
Swallow bird tattoo: An interesting story
A highly popular story about this tattoo involves a ship called The Swallow. On one occasion, 7 members of the crew took part in a mutiny against the authority. These 7 members had swallow tattoos on their chest. It is how they identified each other.
Swallow tattoos also showed that a sailor was experienced. The tradition of having a swallow tattoo spread faster amongst the sailors, which is why every sailor got this tattoo whenever he covered 5000 nautical miles. Thus, a sailor with number of tattoos was more experienced. With it, another legend became popular. It was believed that if a sailor lost his life while traveling, his souls would be carried to the heavens by the swallows of his tattoos.
Traits of swallow bird tattoos
If you are looking for small bird tattoos, then this tattoo should fit the bill. It is small and can be made colorful in any way you want. Sailors sported these tattoos in a variety of colors. Despite being colorful, the tattoos do not typically look feminine. Still if you like to have monochromatic colors, you should choose from any of the dark colors. Swallow bird tattoo designs in gray, brown, blue, and maroon look elegant. The addition of other elements like flowers, leaves, heart, etc. can be done as per the wearer's choice.
Today, many celebrities flaunt swallow bird tattoo designs. Some of them are Johnny Depp, who has the tattoo on his right arm, Robbie Williams, who has a pair of swallows on his abdomen, Marianne Faithfull, whose right hand has a swallow tattoo, and Rachel Perry, who has two swallows on her abdomen.
What should be the size of the tattoo?
Traditionally, sailors sported medium sized sailor tattoos on their arms. This size was chosen, as it left space for other tattoos. Modern swallow tattoos are available in all imaginable sizes. Some small bird tattoos can even be made on your fingers. In short, you can have the tattoo in any size you like.
