[expand]Tattooing practices likely differed between men and women, though evidence for women’s practices is frustratingly sparse.
Men:
Male tattoos were more visible, more martial, more public. Warriors displayed their marks openly. The chest, shoulders, and arms were common sites. The symbols emphasized strength, protection, divine connection.
Women:
Female tattoos were more hidden, more protective, more tied to fertility and family. Marks on the lower back, inner wrists, ankles, or thighs—places covered by clothing but accessible during childbirth or ritual bathing.
Women’s symbols likely included diamonds (womb, fertility), protective circles (guarding children), and water symbols (connection to Mokosh). The priestesses of Mokosh might have had elaborate hidden tattoos—sacred marks seen only by other women, by midwives during childbirth, by the goddess herself.
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