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Getting a Medieval Tattoo in Jerusalem
Aleteia ^ | 9/12/16 | Daniel Esparza

Posted on 09/12/2016 5:58:45 PM PDT by marshmallow

The Razzouk family has tattooed pilgrims arriving to the Holy Land for the last 700 years

Jerusalem’s “Old City” was, until the mid-19th century, the entire urban area of the Holy City. Today, it only occupies a small area (actually, less than one kilometer) in East Jerusalem, but it is still home to several of the most important religious sites for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike: that’s where you find the Holy Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock, and the Kotel.

But the Old City is also home to the Razzouk’s tattoo shop. A sign on the door identifies it unequivocally: “tattoo with heritage since 1300.” As read in the great post Atlas Obscura published on the matter, there is actually a Christian tradition of tattoos, which can be traced for over a thousand years back in the past. The first Christians to get tattooed were those born in the Holy Land (and also Egypt, as tattoos were also part of the Coptic tradition) in the 6th century, according to the testimony of Procopius of Gaza, perhaps one of the most important Christian Greek rhetoricians of the Second Sophistry. These pilgrims would get tattoos of the cross and Christ’s name, and took the practice to Egypt, where Coptic Christians soon adopted it as their own. Christians who made the pilgrimage to the Holy Land would also get tattooed, not only as a display of devotion, but also as proof of their having made the trip.

Wassim Razzouk is the current tattoo artist in the family running the shop, heir not only to a long tradition but also to many of the original utensils with which the family has worked for the last centuries, including several wooden stencil blocks that are inked and then applied to the skin to serve........

(Excerpt) Read more at aleteia.org ...


TOPICS: Catholic; History; Orthodox Christian
KEYWORDS: godsgravesglyphs; ink; medieval; middleages; mummies; mummy; razzouk; tattoo; tattoomummies; tattoos; tatts

1 posted on 09/12/2016 5:58:45 PM PDT by marshmallow
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To: marshmallow

Okay, that’s cool.


2 posted on 09/12/2016 6:00:04 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Talk less. Smile more.)
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To: marshmallow

A JDAM would do more to eliminate the evil.


3 posted on 09/12/2016 6:00:32 PM PDT by soycd
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To: marshmallow

I don’t think mutilating one’s body demonstrates piety as much as idiocy.


4 posted on 09/12/2016 6:02:06 PM PDT by IronJack
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To: marshmallow

Dang ,
I would have got one in ‘96 !


5 posted on 09/12/2016 6:05:00 PM PDT by Big Red Badger (UNSCANABLE in an IDIOCRACY!)
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To: IronJack

And there is an admonition against them in the old testament. The one shown I remember seeing when I visited not as tatoos but as jewelry and knick knacks. They called it the Crusader Cross.


6 posted on 09/12/2016 6:06:18 PM PDT by xp38
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To: IronJack

What You talkin’ bout, Willis?


7 posted on 09/12/2016 6:06:20 PM PDT by Big Red Badger (UNSCANABLE in an IDIOCRACY!)
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To: marshmallow
"The Razzouk family has tattooed pilgrims arriving to the Holy Land for the last 700 years"

They also make some killer Arak -

- which was my afternoon drink of choice when I was in my 40s. (Afternoon Mezetes with Arak. And for an occasional change up, Slivovitz.)

8 posted on 09/12/2016 6:20:24 PM PDT by shibumi (Dancin in the Dark with Tramps in the Park, I'm the Fleetfoot VooDoo Man)
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To: shibumi
They also make some killer Arak

ALL Arak is killer... it doubles as engine degreaser...

9 posted on 09/12/2016 6:31:23 PM PDT by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
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To: Talisker

I guess that’s why my veins and arteries are all clear.


10 posted on 09/12/2016 6:32:22 PM PDT by shibumi (Dancin in the Dark with Tramps in the Park, I'm the Fleetfoot VooDoo Man)
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To: marshmallow
"for the last 700 years"

I wonder if, in spite of that, they're required to have a permit to perform this job. They would if it were the U.S.

"would get tattoos of the cross"

I like the one on Skin of Skunk Anansie in Strange Days, even though it's only paint:


11 posted on 09/12/2016 6:46:27 PM PDT by fruser1
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To: shibumi
I guess that’s why my veins and arteries are all clear.

Probably. That stuff is pure firewater. Of course, from your freepname it's possible you eat a lot of seafood, which is good, but then you're in Indiana, which is not exactly Oceanside. So who knows.

12 posted on 09/12/2016 6:54:07 PM PDT by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
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To: marshmallow

If I had only known. That’s about the only tattoo I’d ever get.


13 posted on 09/12/2016 7:38:57 PM PDT by Dogbert41 (All the days of my life were written in your book before there was one of them!)
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To: IronJack
I don’t think mutilating one’s body demonstrates piety as much as idiocy.

uncivilized tribalism

14 posted on 09/12/2016 8:09:44 PM PDT by higgmeister ( In the Shadow of The Big Chicken! - vote Trump 2016)
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To: higgmeister

And primitivism.


15 posted on 09/14/2016 7:34:28 AM PDT by onedoug
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This topic was posted 09/12/2016, thanks marshmallow.

16 posted on 02/20/2022 11:11:24 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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