Tattoos & Christianity On African Culture
What does the Bible say about Tattoos?
‘You shall not make of yourselves any cuttings in your flesh For the Dead, nor tattoo any marks on you. I am the Lord’
The Bible in the book of Leviticus 19:28 is quite clear on the issue of tattoos and piercings on the flesh, but, before we go on, it’s safer to look at the verses that preceded that and look at the whole text in its actual context.
The earlier text is obviously addressing practices that were not Jewish. Practices tied to paganism and pagan rituals; in that same chapter, the Israelites were instructed on many other practices which you would agree with me are rather (in our time) unavoidable. They were instructed not to eat meat that has not been drained off its blood, not to trim the head on their head, and not to trim their beards. Today, many Christians who are fully against tattoos still eat red meat, trim their hair and shave their beards. The question now is this: Should Christians not get a tattoo, not eat red meat, and not have a haircut?
On a deeper cultural level, these instructions given to the Jews were what foundationally formed their culture, norms, and values and evidently has been infused into Christianity and in some ‘Modern Morality’ way, speaking as related to having a tattoo or not.
In the past (and even now), some cultures had (and still have) practices that are often considered as absurd, inhumane and stupid. Let us not forget that these pagan practices which may include providing your daughter as a prostitute, sacrificing babies to an altar, cutting of one’s flesh, killing of twin babies, having an army of slaves and all whatnot was also instructed and passed down to them by some greater force or influence. Now the question of whether the Jewish/Christian God is the one true God is out there for debate to many, however, that’s not the point of this article.
Christians today are allowed to have piercings, the women mostly, and if a man has a piercing, there are certain conclusions that follow suit for the said man: ‘queer, cultist, rapist, pseudo-believer, etc.’ Body piercing for both male and female are as old as time, jewelry has also been used as dowries for marriage, adornment, currency and even bonds for many other things.
Many people argue today that tattoos and piercings in Christianity send a negative and hypocritical message to members of the body of Christ and the outside world generally. As a Christian, you just shouldn’t get a tattoo or pierce your skin as a man. You just shouldn’t. People often forget that actions, habits, and gestures in one’s culture may mean something entirely different in another person’s culture. For example, in some parts of Eritrea it’s common to have someone stomp on another person’s foot and spitting on the ground when greeting, if you do that in Nigeria, you may be considered an idiot or a retard. In Nigeria, however, it’s rude to shake with your left hand or receive things with your left arm, which shows disrespect, in America, it’s rude to wear white to a funeral, in some part of the west, it’s absurd to say ‘I’m positive’ when you are not referring to having HIV. All these are habits, lifestyles, cultures, and norms which means different things to different people.
Now that we have established that, let’s look at tattoos in the African Culture.
Would you consider Africa and Africans as pagans? Holding a ‘paganistic’ heritage and background, yes we could say that Africans may be considered as pagans (in the past). It wasn’t until Christianity found its roots in Calabar that the killing of twins was abolished by Mary Slessor. There have also been numerous cultural activities across many Nigerian and African traditions that are considered barbaric and hence, have been put to an end.
If you meet a young man from the Dinka tribe of South Sudan, you would be awestruck by the conspicuous tribal marks on his forehead. A symbol of his initiation into the ‘brotherhood of men’. He carries it like a badge of honor. It is his ‘free pass’ to woo girls and makes him somebody of ‘worth’, so for these ‘perks’ boys as young as twelve opt for the scarification.
Haemorrhage and HIV are common by-products of this procedure but it’s a risk they are willing to take.
In the Sahel region of Africa, Wodaabe women adorn various patterns of markings and permanent paintings on their faces, which they then dye to enhance its appearance. For them, this marks perform a dual function; deter evil spirits and for aesthetics.
All around Africa; from the scorching deserts of the Sahara to the coasts of Southern Africa, thousands of tribal marks abound, replete with thousands of meanings, not necessarily to appease any god or anything fetish but for what they are — Culture, Traditions, and Norms.
Now, many preachers from Africa (and the world) preach against tattoos and piercings at the start of the new millennium which has heralded the birth of a new generation. One that enjoyed ample exposure to technology and ‘western civilization’.
The internet and Hollywood being the most widespread culprits. The African Culture of Tattooing and piercing now hold little meaning. It is now a term synonymous to village people. For this generation, tribal marks and cultural tattoos and adornment reeked of primitiveness, of diabolism and of cultural brutality. The body could not be ‘mutilated’ for some fetish beliefs, for those who wished to ‘adorn’ it should only be done in the mind through the beauty that is Christ. How pathetic.
As such, in 2019 you could find a Dinka man with his overt forehead markings; a symbol of masculine pride in his heydays with his tattooed son; a symbol of his progressive and westernized millennial generation.
As for Christianity, the Bible, time after time hammered on God as not looking at the outward appearance (which he clearly did in the time before now) but at the heart. Now, recall in the Bible, only the Jews got circumcised, and any uncircumcised man is considered as filth, unworthy and unsaved. Gentiles. The gift of God’s salvation through his son Jesus Christ birthed an era that opens a window for all men, Greek, Jew, Africa, India, and all whatnot. It’s God saying ‘So you don’t get circumcised? However, my love will cover you’
When looking at, “what does the Bible say about tattoos and piercings really?” here are some thoughts. While the Bible does not address tattooing for adornment purposes, it does say, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God,” 1 Corinthians 10:31. Tattoos are powerful permanent messages, and several of those messages don’t line up with the Bible. Obscene, racy, or racist tattoos have messages that contradict Christian behavior and values, however, these mentioned messages are not African. Tattoos in Africa means different things entirely.
In the past, tattoos send a rebellious message and of the 100 people with a tattoo, 99 of them got it as a sign to show rebellion, pain, anger, gang membership and grief maybe. Currently, these are not the case. So why are you getting a tattoo should be the question.
Christianity brought with it ‘modifications to the norms’, positives like abolishing the killing of twins which was rampant in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa, the Osus who had hitherto been excommunicated as ‘outcastes’ found a new lease on life as they were welcomed into to the community of the new faith. Missionaries built schools that educated the locals and some of them even worked for the new churches. It was a religion that welcomed everybody and everything. But just like an antibiotic, Christianity didn’t only go after the ‘bad bacteria’ the ‘good bacteria’ suffered too.
While saving twins, abolishing slave trades and removing fetish-filled worships and saving outcastes were steps in the right direction, it was not long before adherents of the new religion had fanatics of their own. Some of their first victims were wildlife. Venomless pythons got killed for being agents of ‘idol gods’ and for those who killed them, a chance to prove the ‘impotency’ of these ‘idol gods’, trees were cut down for ‘harboring evil spirits’, owls were hunted and burnt for being ‘witches’. Customs suffered as did culture. For the followers of the new faith, it became imperative to try to be as Christian as possible and for them that included discarding relics of the old ways. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has passed away. Cultural practices all got blacklisted as fetish traditions. Native names are now abandoned and new Christian-like ones; John, James, Titus, Esther, Mary are now the new thing. Who bears Okafor, Okeke, Ogunmola or Ifagbemi? That fetish filth! For some ethnic groups like the Igbos, their traditional attires were dumped and even the language suffered as more people raised their children to speak the white man’s language.
In conclusion, Christianity doesn’t preach against tattoos, it entirely preaches about self-realization as according to the precepts of God, which if you ask me, no one entirely knows as it is different for different people.
