From Grandma’s Daggas to Today’s Tattoos

By Adhid Miri, PhD

“In Iraq, even tattoos have a conflicted past and present.” So starts a 2023 essay by Ahmed Windi titled, “Our Inked Grandmothers.” His two grandmothers had traditional tattoos and his mother – born in the 1960s – did not. So naturally, he had questions.

The word “tattoo” is said to have originated from the Tahitian word “tatu,” which means to mark something.

Lines and Dots

In ancient Egypt, tattoos above the eyes were common because of the belief that they strengthened eyesight. The Greeks used them as evidence of treason; spies had identifying tattoos drawn on their bodies. The Romans also used them in wrestling arenas, where each wrestler was tattooed with a figure of the animal he was wrestling.

The Pharaohs have been familiar with tattoos for thousands of years. They were used on women for cosmetic purposes in the absence of colored powders, especially around the eyebrows and lips to darken and enlarge them and the neck, where they were pricked with needles in the form of a wide necklace.

One of the most important benefits or benefits of the origin of tattoos is that they serve as a means of healing for religious people. For example, ancient Egypt and India used tattoos as healing techniques. It is believed that tattoos around the fingers and wrist area of the body chase disease away from the wearer.

Tattooing moved from the Mediterranean basin to England, where it spread among members of the ruling family before the practice moved to mainland Europe. In the 19th century, sailors of the Royal Fleet used to tattoo the turtle on those who crossed the equator and the anchor tattoo on those who crossed the Atlantic. If they reached China, the dragon tattoo was the reward.

The art of tattoo appeared in Japan around 500 BC, where it was used for cosmetic and religious purposes specific to the Japanese, or as a punishment for criminals. Russian tzars used to tattoo prisoners according to their crimes and punishments, just as the Nazis tattooed their prisoners with serial numbers in concentration camps during World War II.

In Iraq

Although many religions prohibit the practice of tattooing, most Chaldean grandfathers and grandmothers bore tattoos on their bodies even though they were deeply religious. Tattoos in Iraq were popular from the 1880s through the 1960s. Women used tattoos in lieu of makeup, and Iraqi men had limbs tattooed to lend strength to their arms and legs.

Kurdish Dagga on a woman’s hand.

Tattooing, or “Dagga” as it is called locally in Iraq, was a social phenomenon. “Dagga” or “Dakka” means “taps;” it stands for the actual act of tattooing, where the tattoo artists use a series of taps to puncture the skin so the color can penetrate.

For a long time, mothers were keen to send their daughters to the “Daggaga” to get tattooed so that they would look beautiful and striking, and preserve the values of the tribe, which they saw as an adornment and a common custom.

Dagga Al-Khaza’aliyah is a type of tattoo that was very widespread for women in southern Iraq. It is a stroke between the lower lip and the chin, or on their hands and eyebrows. Women from various tribes are distinguished by the types of Daggas they are adorned with.

Social norms previously considered the phenomenon of tattoos or “Dagga” worn by women to be part of their identity and heritage, but this view began to decline, especially after the rise of the religious tide which greatly affected some customs and considered them forbidden.

The most common tattoos for women pre-1960s were the “nonah,” a small circular shape between the eyes inspired by the Hindu “bindi;” marks on the tip of the nose, upper lip, and chin; a dotted mark from the chin down, called “the trail of ants;” or three dots in the form of a lineless triangle on the hand, representing life, family, and health.

Men would typically get one or two dots on the face, indicating a struggle, dots for each family member on the upper back, or name tattoos, sometimes religious (Allah, Mohammed, etc).

The year 1963 marked a turning point in Iraq around the outlook on many ancient customs, a period of coups and turmoil that struck society together with the rise of religious trends that swept through society. The generations that used to get tattoos stopped doing so after the early sixties.

After 2003 in Iraq, beauty centers and salons where tattoos could be attained were subject to closure due to the spread of extremist religious ideas.

Tattoos and Religion

Tattoos were used to expel spirits, fight the devil, eliminate black magic, protect against envy, and were used to treat some diseases. African tribes used them in the form of signs and symbols on the body as an identification test in societies that did not read. The tattoo was used to distinguish a person and introduce others to him and his tribe. It was used in ceremonies on some occasions, such as marriage, harvest holidays, and during wars.

Tattooing was considered a primitive act committed by traditional societies. This emphasis and persuasion led to the gradual decline of tattooing in Europe. The significant decline was driven by Emperor Constantine’s banning of tattoos. He believed that the human body was created in the image and likeness of God and should not be destroyed by tattoos.

The decline in tattoo geology has been attributed to Christian missionaries, who advocated against tattoo awareness in various circles. They convinced community members not to have their bodies penetrated, viewing tattoos on oneself as unholy deeds that should not be entertained.

In the Holy Land

In the Old City of Jerusalem, a centuries-old tradition of tattooing goes back in written records to at least the 1600s and quite possibly much earlier. The Razzouk family brought the art of tattooing with them from Egypt to Palestine five centuries ago. They came to the Holy Land for a pilgrimage but stayed for trade. Since this art has been in the family for 700 hundred years, starting in Egypt, the family began tattooing pilgrims for a living.

In the tattoo/coffin-making shop of Jacob Razzouk, you will find designs of wood blocks unique in character that were carved with various designs, mostly Coptic Christian. Prominent among them is, of course, the Jerusalem cross. Pilgrims to the Holy City have used it for centuries to commemorate their journeys – even pilgrims such as King Edward VII of England and King Frederik IX of Denmark.

The Razzouk ancestors used tattoos to mark Christian Copts in Egypt with a small cross on the inside of the wrist to grant them access to churches. Those without it would have difficulty entering the church; therefore, from a very young age (sometimes even a few months old) Christians would tattoo their children with the cross identifying them as Copts.

The power of these tattoos comes from the story they tell. There is something magical about knowing that the artwork you’re about to have permanently inscribed on your body is the same artwork that someone hundreds of years ago had as well.

One of the most popular tattoos is the Jerusalem cross, because of its meaning. The central cross represents Jerusalem as the center of the world. And four corner crosses represent Christianity spreading to the four corners of the world. Pilgrims come from all over the globe, and when they are tattooed, they become a part of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem becomes a part of them.

Tattoos Today

After the U.S. invasion in 2003, a different kind of tattoo could be seen on young Iraqis. Inspired by the tatted-up biceps of U.S. soldiers, tattoo art became a different kind of self-expression.

Although permanent tattoos are forbidden by Islamic law, during wartime in Iraq many men had their names tattooed on their skin for identification purposes should they not survive the conflict.

Some non-Muslim Iraqi women have eyebrow tattoos, lip tattoos, and eyeliner tattoos, while in Europe men are more accepting of tattoos, especially celebrities, according to the London newspaper Al-Hayat. Pharaonic tattoos have become popular among world celebrities.

Initially in the U.S., tattooing was an act for sailors and the lower classes, but now things have changed. Due to modern-day awareness and the fact that tattoo craftsmen have become more capable, tattoos have moved towards becoming the canvas of individual choice.

Sources: Wikipedia, Iraqi researcher Muhammad Ajaj al-Jumaili, Al Jazeera Net, Taher Abdel, Four centuries of History of Iraq / Arabization by Jaafar Al-Khayyat, Hamid Rahim Al-Khazaai, Najaf Al-Ashraf, Naji Jawad Al—Saati, John Carswell, Jason Harris, Ghada Ali, Hameed Majeed, and Alla Kuli.