Traditional Tattooing in Europe Everybody is welcome to join the project of saving indigenous tattoo art in Europe!! Did you know that there are people in Europe who are still traditionally tattooed in the old ways, carrying on their skin a tradition of tattooing that is more than 1000 years old and dates from the ancient Illyrian tribes that lived in the Balkans? You can still find old Croatian C
atholic people in Bosnia and Herzegovina who were tattooed between the age of 3 and 16 for protection. There is not much written or published about it, and the photos about their tattoos are rare. Every story is important to me, because every village had their own customs and symbols for tattooing. My aim is also to find the last person who was traditionally tattooed in the Balkans, and I know that it was also done after 1970ies. I want to research more about the links of tattoo traditions in the Balkans so :
Therefore I need your HELP and support in this project of preserving this culture of tattooing :
- If you ever travel around Bosnia and Herzegovina and come across tattooed Croatian people in the mountains or towns, please send your photo or story to [email protected]
- This custom was also known in Albania since it dates from the Illyrian tribes , so if somebody saw old traditonally tattooed people or knows something about this tradition in Albania, please let me know!
- If you travel around Balkans and meet the Cincar people who had a cross tattoo on their foreheads please inform
- If you want to write and research about this topic I will be more than welcome to assist and send you all the stories I’ve collected in English so that people do not forget this tradition! I also welcome all people and journalists- If you have any projects, questions, proposals and advices regarding this topic, don’t hesitate to contact:
Traditional Croatian Tattoo in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Email address :
[email protected]
This is the only document I found about Tattooing in Albania from Mary Edith Durham, a British traveller, artist and writer, who wrote in 1909:
arbenia.forumotion.com/t334-high-albania-by-m-edith-durham There are certain old Roman Catholic communities in Bosnia that have preserved to this day the ancient Illyrian custom of tattooing. It is of special interest to note that, of the present TRIBES in North Albania, the most tattooed are those that relate that they fled from Bosnia to avoid the Turks. To read more you can visit Tradicionalno Tetoviranje Hrvata (Traditional Croatian Tattoo) Group where I collect stories and photographs of traditionally tattooed men and women
www.facebook.com/?sk=messages&tid=1784552052112 #!/gro...
I created this group in 2009 and since then I’ve managed to collect more than 100 photos of tattooed people in Bosnia and Herzegovina, sent by their cousins or children!
