In the days of old, heroes were always accompanied by birds as they went in pursuit of fiends, ogres, dragons and monsters. In most tales of yore, the birds would fly ahead to spy and return to inform the hero of looming obstacles, thus bringing about the famous phrase, 'a little bird told me'!
Bird tattoos are also very popular due to their connection with religion as well as the mystical. Birds can be found in every era of history; stick figurines of birds have been discovered in the ancient Egyptian tombs in the pyramids, bedecking Arapaho Ghost Dance costumes, at African traditional rituals and weddings across all religions. Christian portrayals of cherubs and angels show them having wings, which are synonymous with birds. In almost all instances, birds are symbols of all the positive things in life, which is why many people tend to go for bird tattoo designs, especially for their first tattoos.
A bird tattoo design will consist of a pair of birds, depicted together. They tend to be opposites in characteristics; fair to dark, black to white, big to small. This merely shows the dual nature of the universe; where sadness exists, so does happiness. Where night exists, so does day. In other cases, good and evil are also portrayed by birds, for example, when we have a bird tattoo design of a bird fighting a serpent.
Decidedly, there are some implications to birds that are not completely normal. In China, the bird is called the niao, which also means penis, thereby bringing in sexual overtones into bird tattoos. Also, the double meaning of a cock as either a rooster or a penis dates back to eras past in the Rome of old. Some portrayals of birds are quite negative in impact. In Germany, to be insane can be put politely as to 'have a bird'! 'Bird-brain' is also one of the most famous insults in the Western World, although most people do not associate these negative impressions with bird tattoos designs.
You can get plenty of bird tattoo designs on the internet. In the animal kingdom, bird tattoo designs are only a small part of the entire spectrum. To see other types of animal tattoos, do visit our pages on animal tattoos, insect and reptile tattoos, and sea world tattoos!
