Tattoo Symbol Index - A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Tattoo designs - T >> Thistle

Thistle Tattoo Designs – As the Shamrock is to the Irish, so too is the Thistle to the Scots. The Thistle is a tough plant, able to grow in places that challenges lesser vegetation and it protects itself with a dense covering of thorny bristles and spines. It is crowned with a beautiful purple flower, a colour long associated in Europe with royalty and nobility. In most places the Thistle might be considered a nuisance and a weed. Poor Scots, on the verge of starvation during particularly hard times, would steam and steep thistles in boiling water in order to survive. The Scottish Highlanders were every bit as tough as the prickly plant. The milk thistle was highly valued for it's medicinal properties and was grown all over Europe for its use in treating liver and stomach ailments. It was even used in salads - sans prickles and spines!

The symbol of the Thistle, it's prickly stem crowned with a majestic purple flower, was prominently featured in the Heraldic Crests of many Highland Clans and of Noble Scottish Houses. The early Kings of Scotland used the Thistle as their personal heraldic crest and in their Coat of Arms.

In modern times, many Scottish Associations, rugby clubs, football teams and other sports organizations feature the thistle in their team logos, as a point of Scottish pride and as a symbol of toughness!

In 1687 King James II created the unique Scottish Order of Knighthood, the Order of the Thistle. It is one of the oldest orders of Knighthood still in existence.

For over a thousand years then, the Thistle has been a distinctly Scottish symbol and has become an emblem of Scotland herself, with the accompanying motto, "Nemo Me Impune Lacessit" - Wha daur meddle wi' me - Who dares meddle with me!

As a tattoo design, the Thistle is a distinctly Scottish emblem, and speaks of the pride in being one of the forty million people who are descended from Scots who emigrated around the world. If you ever go to a Highland Games meet, you will see nearly as many representations and decorative uses of the symbol of the Thistle as you will see kilts and sporrans. The thistle is a symbol of pride, determination, tenacity and toughness in the face of great hardship and long odds.

Tattoo designs - T >> Thistle

Tattoo Symbol Index - A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z