Back in the day, not too long ago, the only people who had tattoos were ex-cons and sailors. The former was an outward expression of internal aggression, depicted with skulls, snakes, etc. And the mariners used a fairly uniform set of usual suspects. This ranged from anchors to hula girls on the forearm that would dance by flexing your muscles. The use of tattoos on sailors actually goes back centuries. They would get a new one every time they accomplished something like crossing the Equator or completing a lengthy journey. There was also a small amount of superstition involved. It was common to have a pig or rooster inked on the leg to prevent drowning. Apparently, when a ship went down, these animals often survived because they were stored in wooden crates which floated.
Recently, the Guardian ran a picture essay on a tattoo-centered festival in Thailand in which "The devotees are in fact undergoing what they believe to be a form of possession by the animal spirits inculcated into their tattoos".
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