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Might be the best DM I have ever received as a tattooer

Hullo-hello! I wanted to ask about sicanje today. I hope the questions aren't too much:

Is there a scholarly consensus on its origin? Is it really likely that it has Illyrian roots?

Wikipedia states children were usually tattooed between the feasts of Sts Joseph and John the Baptist. Not to sound like a neopagan, but could it be tied to pre-Christian folk spring/summer celebrations, like a midsummer holiday?

Was sicanje practised by urban Catholic Croats?

Are there any theories on why it seems restricted to Croats of BiH and parts of Dalmatia?

Is there much of a difference between male vs female tattoos?

Since tattooing is also practised by Albanians regardless of religion (feel free to correct me, I'm leaning on Wikipedia here), do Albanian tattoos differ between Muslim and Christian communities? Edith Durham's drawings of northern Albanian patterns seem to indicate that, but I'd be surprised if there was little overlap.

That is all!

I found the work on traditional tattooing by the Croatian ethnologist Mario Petrić very useful and truest to it, because it’s objective, avoids political or nationalistic interpretations, and takes into consideration other examples of practices among various Balkan nations. In addition to other previous works, he has done a research between 1965 and 1970, doing interviews with people, he covered large parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, sections of Macedonia, and selected parts of Bulgaria, northern Greece and Croatia. He also published questions public in the Ethnological Atlas of Yugoslavia, and collected a lot of information from people who sent him the answers.

Tattooing was found almost all over Balkan: Croats and Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Dalmatia, among Croats and Serbs in parts of Slavonia, among Albanian Catholic tribes (Kastrati, Shkreli, Hoti, Gruda, Kelmendi, Dukagjini, and Pulati), Muslims, among Aromanians in Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria, as well as among the Sarakatsani and the ethnographic group of Shopi which consists of both Bulgarians and Serbs. Croats and Serbs also practiced cauterization - burning of the skin to leave a permanent mark, but it was rare.

A common feature: tattooing was performed between the ages of 10 and 15, although in some regions it was done earlier, even between the ages of one and five, and was often done several times during childhood. It was practiced by both males and females, a pattern found throughout most of the regions where the custom survived. Over time in some areas, only women were tattooed, while the tattooing exclusively for men was found only in Lika (preserved evidence in Bosnia shows that men would only tattoo small ornaments or one cross). Technique involved first applying pigment to the skin and then piercing the skin with a needle so that the pigment penetrated beneath the surface. Technique unique to western Herzegovina is that they used molds made from tree bark and leaves to transfer designs onto the skin.

Tattooing was almost always performed in spring, most often on specific Christian day during Lent and before Easter, St. Joseph’s Day Annunciation, Good Friday, Ascension Day. Taking into consideration that everyone on the Balkan has unique traditions related to solstice on Ðurđevdan, spring was most definitely an universal season for tattooing with ancient rites of passage into adulthood and with nature cults. Part of the ritual was also mutual tattooing, children and adults tattooing one another, and it was almost always carried out in groups. Certain elements may have magical and protective meaning, specially among Muslim Albanians and Turks, but author takes into consideration that it could be possible that the belief once have existed outside of Islam, as suggested by the use of ash or hawthorn wood for making tattoo templates in Bosnia and Herzegovina (not by Muslims). The original significance of tattooing: 1. Magical – protection from danger, snake bites, illness, for health and fertility. 2. Solar – association with the sun, spring, and the renewal of life. 3. Social – a rite of passage marking the transition from childhood to adulthood. 4. Decorative

Permanent body marking was once a widespread tradition among many nations worldwide, but what its not clear is whether they meant body painting, scarification or tattooing. The earliest Balkan evidence comes from Herodotus, who wrote that among the Thracians tattooing was a sign of noble birth. Archaeological discoveries, such as depictions of Thracian maenads decorated with geometric symbols on the body. The earliest mention of “modern tattooing” on the Balkan dates from the 17th century by Paul Ricaut, secretary of the English embassy in Constantinople, who mentioned tattooing among Christians in Serbia - permanently marked children’s foreheads with a cross during baptism so that they would not convert to Islam. Most of the evidence later is from the 19th and 20th century, but it’s mostly brief notes by travelers and researchers.

Many Western travelers interpreted Balkan tattooing only for preserving Christianity under Ottoman Empire. However, it should be noted that most of these were written with some little observations and no ethnographic research, even though they had a more material and way people practiced it back then. Their interpretations were often shaped by the politics of the time, Ottoman Empire was portrayed negatively in Western Europe. Of course their rule wasn’t shaped by good understanding but rather discrimination of the Christian population, but in this way they used the situation to sometime exaggerate things for their own political play. The theory that tattooing had started only after the Ottoman came to Balkan, or that its sole purpose was to prevent the kidnapping of women, is not true. Some people, specially those who tattoed crosses, gave it a new meaning with crosses to stop kidnapping or conversion during the Ottoman rule, but that wasn’t the very sole meaning behind their tattoes, specially considering that some Turkish communities have practiced tattooing as well, tattooed hands wouldnt really stop anyone from kidnapping and forced conversion. So in a way these historical circumstances gave tattooing a new meaning.

There are several folk interpretations of this tattooing. 1. The most widespread is that it’s a general symbol of Christianity (western Bosnia and parts of Macedonia and Bulgaria). 2. Viewed as a mark of Catholic identity (only among the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albanian Catholics) 3. Tattoos were believed to prevent conversion to Islam (Albania, Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia) 4. In western Herzegovina and parts of Macedonia they were understood primarily as decoration. 5. Interpreted as demonstrations of endurance and courage (most likely an older belief that stayed rather than adapting to a new one). 6. Protection, to ward off evil (Albania)

Tradition was inherited from the pre-Slavic Balkan population and later adopted by the Slavs and other Balkan people through cultural contact and assimilation. There is no evidence that everyone’s tattoos on Balkan is a continuation of specific Illyrian practice, even though they have done it as well, in some areas it may have been. This belief for the tattooing among Croats comes more from the influence of the Pan Slavic Illyrian movement. Many pre-Slavic tribes or people have performed tattooing so it can’t really be said that this practice was only once done by this ancient people but not the other, or that it’s a clear continuation of their presence, we simply don’t have enough historic evidence and we can’t tell for sure since we know it was done by numerous groups back then. Balkan is a place where cultural exchange was constant and so many migrations happend throughout history.

Unfortunately, there are almost no photographic examples of tattoos in Albania, and works mainly rely on Edith Durham or comparisons of symbols. Wish someone had done a better research and put their work into it. It would be interesting to see, whether people remember their grandmothers having them. It seems that they were mostly solar and protective for them. Croatian women have kept this traditional very much alive, specially due to its connection to Catholicism, which they consider very important. It’s possible that later when church had more control of the areas they made people stop practising it in other Balkan countries, since the danger of Ottomans has stopped.

For Serbs and Croats in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina they were the same, no big differences, since even between eacother they have little to no difference ethnically and linguistically, mostly religiously. And religion sometimes changed from Orthodox to Catholic or Catholic to Orthodox, making this population quite the same, minimizing every possible difference. Mentions of only one simple cross on the forehead was quite possibly done with the sole purpose of Christian faith. While other symbols on the arms and chest were older. Also I don’t think it was ever practised in urban areas, people often frowned upon those in villages.

Also what is interesting that Mario Petrić mentions that the geographical distribution of tattooing corresponds to regions where sheep pastoralism was the dominant economic activity. It has similarities with the tattooing traditions of pastoral peoples of the Caucasus, Western Asia, and North Africa suggest that Balkan tattooing belongs to a very old cultural tradition that survived in the Balkans. - x