How you view luck would I assume depend on how your life is right now. It is easy to say that we are lucky if are living comfortably privileged lives. It is also easy to blame bad luck when things don't go our way. The only thing we can all agree on is that luck is a social construct. It cannot be established through facts that luck exist. Still, it has not dissuaded generations of human to believe or scoff at the idea of luck.
Throughout human history, important events have been attributed to luck and therefore symbols have persisted to this day. There are even entire industries built around the concept of luck. Even trying hard bloggers like this one has spent countless hours wracking their brain to write about it.
But what does luck have to do with a tattoo blog? Of course, we're going to highlight some tattoo ideas based around symbols of luck all over the world. Now this is by no means an exhaustive list of lucky symbols in different tattoo styles. We simply want to share a few of them that has caught our eye.
Elephant/Octopus by Jess Mascitti at Graceland Tattoo in Brooklyn, NY
This one is a great combination of an elephant and an octopus. The elephant has long been a symbol of luck in some Asian cultures with strong connection to divinity. The octopus on the other hand is a symbol of adaptability and intelligence. It can be interpreted that the owner of a tattoo like this is calling on Lady Luck but at the same time uses the ability to adapt to oncoming changes to maximize the luck factor.
Maneki-neko by Jay Shaw at Silver Needles, Southend-on-Sea, United Kingdom
The maneki-neko is very popular in Japan, China, and Vietnam. It is usually thought of to be of Chinese origin but this lucky symbol has its roots in Imperial Japan. The symbol illustrates a cat with a raised paw. This is believed to be inspired by the Japanese belief that when cats wash their face, a visitor will soon arrive. Thus small businesses uses the same symbol to basically call out to prospective customers.
Swallow/Cherry blossom by Ruben Slimer in Blood Cold Tattoo 13, Madrid, Spain
The aerial master that is the swallow is also considered as a lucky symbol predominantly in Korea due to the folktale Heungbu and Nolbu. The story revolves around two brothers with contrasting attitude. While one is greedy, the other brother is kind. The latter was rewarded with wealth after helping mend a swallow’s broken foot.
The swallow is also considered a good sign in maritime superstition mainly because swallows are land-based birds. Seeing one while out in the ocean means they are close to a land mass, something that old mariners who have been out to sea for so long would look forward to.
Bamboo/Red plum flowers by Chenpo at NewTattoo Studio in Beijing, China
The bamboo has an important role in Chinese culture as it is considered a symbol of a gentleman. It is upright and tenacious although not very physically strong. It is flexible and hollow symbolizing an open heart ready to accept anything of benefit. In Japanese culture, bamboo forests usually surround a Shinto shrine as a sacred barrier against evil elements.
Luck is defined as success or failure brought on about by chance instead of someone's effort and it has been said that it is "the last dying wish of those who wanna believe that winning can happen by accident." That line has stuck by me for ages ever since I watched this motivational video half a decade ago.
While it helps me get pumped up when I need motivation, I don't think that really sums up what luck is. Sometimes, we make our own luck by simply preparing whether it through rigorous years of training or just simply qualifying for an event.
How about you, how do you view luck?
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