Sankofa Tattoo

my newww tattooo!! this is my Sankofa bird (see below for the meaning!), done by Jay at Bodycraft in Nottingham.

Anyway, he's on my lower back... and he looks a bit rough cuz he's only a few hours old! I'll probably put up a new photo when he's settled down... and yes. He's a he...

His neck is a wee bit crooked, but I don't think it's too noticable... it gives him character ... I'm also going to get something around him, of a viney type nature, when I have the funds!

"The concept of SANKOFA is derived from King Adinkera of the Akan people of West Afrika. SANKOFA is expressed in the Akan language as "se wo were fi na wosan kofa a yenki."

Literally translated it means "it is not taboo to go back and fetch what you forgot".

"Sankofa" teaches us that we must go back to our roots in order to move forward. That is, we should reach back and gather the best of what our past has to teach us, so that we can achieve our full potential as we move forward. Whatever we have lost, forgotten, forgone or been stripped of, can be reclaimed, revived, preserved and perpetuated.

Visually and symbolically "Sankofa" is expressed as a mythic bird that flies forward while looking backward with an egg (symbolizing the future) in its mouth."