Turtle Tattoo Designs & Their Meaning
Turtle tattoos can symbolize almost anything you want them to — from immortality and protection to gracefulness and patience. When you come to think of it, turtles are truly magical creatures. Despite its body lacking conventional aerodynamic streaming, the animal manages to glide effortlessly in water and even thrive there. Perhaps this ability has earned the turtle its larger than life status in ethnic mythology.
On the Indian subcontinent, for instance, natives believe that the Earth rests on the back of a pair of elephants. These elephants, in turn, stand upon an enormous turtle shell. Native Americans of different cultural traditions also ascribe mythical creation power to the turtle. In Mohawk creation myths, a giant turtle carries the world on its back. When the turtle stretches under all that weight, the mortals on the surface feel this as an earthquake.