When we consider the history of tattoos and body piercing, few groups are shrouded in more mystery than the Picts. Located in what is now Scotland, this culture cropped up around 300 AD, assumed to be descendants of the Caledonia and other Iron Age tribes. Their language has been lost to time, and what we do know of them as a people is from the writings of Romans and monks throughout 300-900 AD. Their given name, the Picts, derives from Roman sources, usually a term deriding the ‘barbaric’ native tribes of Britain. But Pict also derives from Picti, a Latin word meaning painted or to paint. It refers to the process of tattooing. Roman writings discuss warriors covered in blue woad marks. Much debate exists over whether these marks were body paint or tattoos, but much historical record points to tattooing, a practice long held in pagan society at the time, and considered ‘barbaric and distasteful’ by the roman catholic empire. The Romans long sought to subdue the tribes of Britain, with no long-term success. However, what record does remain shows a bold, strong people living in the remote highlands, and staunchly refusing to capitulate to Christian colonization and incursions into their land.
The origins of the Pictish name are debated to this day in academic communities. We do know that the Pictish people would have had their own name for themselves, although what that name is is unknown. “Pict” is a given term from the Romans, it’s roots linguistically going further back. Priteni and its variant Pritani were ancient Greek terms that both Greek and Roman travelers used when referring to all inhabitants of Britain. Both words are believed to mean “The People of the Designs”. Eventually, the Romans of Julius Caesar's time took the term Pritani but altered it to Britanni and restricted its use to only those tribes that came under Roman rule. In the form of Brittones, it became the people's name for themselves as they converted to Christianity and became Romanised. Still, the new Britons and the ‘Romans continued to use the term Picti to refer to the ‘barbarians’ who roamed the far highlands. It’s believed that the Picts own name of themselves would have reflected a similar meaning, “The Painted People” or “The People of the Designs”. It’s clear that these body markings were culturally significant to them as a people, enough to denote this in their own namesake. This also aligns with what evidence of Pictish culture we do have- picture stones that dot the landscape of the highlands, covered in elaborate carvings depicting what many believe is a pictorial form of language. Images, esoteric symbols, and Celtic patterns come together on these stones and tell a story of the Pictish people. It’s clear that these images and iconography were very important to the culture. Enough to painstakingly carve into these stones, and perhaps also enough to carve into their very skin.
The image of the Picts was the most striking part of their culture to the Romans. It’s clear that the custom of adorning the skin with pictures is what set the Picts apart from other native groups in the region, and it also created a unique identity for these groups. The poet Claudian, who lived around 400 AD, wrote this: “There came the legion, shield of frontier Britons, check of the grim Scot, whose men had watched the life leave the designs on the dying Pict.” Clearly, it is a reference to body painting or tattooing of warriors. An interesting theory that many academics give weight is the amount of battle literature that documents the markings of the Picts. Multiple accounts discuss the markings on their body including watching the life leave them. Early Historic battle was a violent, messy, bloody process. For body marks to survive so intact to be witnessed on the bodies of the dead, many presume lends credence to the idea that indeed, the Picts were a tattooed people. Caesar himself says “All the Britons paint themselves with woad which produces a dark blue color and for this reason, they are much more frightful in appearance during a battle.” He does not document if the woad is tattooed on permanently after being painted, but his statements do showcase how widespread the woad markings are in early Britain.
Early third century AD Herodian notes that the ‘barbarians of north Britain adorn their skin with a range of designs, including representations of animals.’ Four centuries later, Christian monk Isidore of Seville believes the practice of using needles to imprint these designs is indeed what earned the Picts their name. Isidore’s writings support the idea that the Picts not only used blue woad for battle paint but made the decoration permanent via tattooing. In Roman and later times tattooing was viewed as barbaric and primitive, a taint of ancient pagan beliefs. The Picts clearly value this iconography of animals, as it’s found in most of their carvings. A culture with such deep ties to this imagery and to the esoteric patterns inscribed on its great monuments seems to be in alignment with a culture that would also ink these markings on their bodies. It’s clear from the historical record this may have been a widespread practice across ancient Britain that was slowly eliminated by the encroaching of Christianity. It may have served religious purposes in Celtic and pagan beliefs or cultural purposes- perhaps marks earned after battle or to denote rank or tribal affiliation.
“By far the most vivid example of a distinct Pictish culture was the use of a range of symbols not encountered elsewhere. These were undoubtedly of very ancient origin, having been created in prehistory as a kind of alphabet. It is not until the Early Historic period, however, that the symbols become uniquely visible in the landscape. In prehistoric times they probably appeared as decorations on small objects such a jewelry, or as tattoos, but their use changed after the end of the Roman Era. By AD 500 they were starting to appear as carvings inscribed with great skill on standing stones.” Tim Clarkson, The Picts
Seeing their skill in carvings that detail horses, cattle, and deer, as well as classic Celtic knot work and swirling symbols, it is not hard to envision a people who wear these markings as proudly on their skin as they do across their homes and monuments. In fact, we know that the Picts were stubborn in their hold of traditional “pagan” elements. Though they did eventually convert to Christianity, it was as a political move, not a religious one. Much documentation shows Pictish kings holding to pagan tradition despite their conversion. In fact, “Celtic Christianity” was specified as separate from the Roman church, due to differences in things like the calculation of Easters date, and other rituals and rites. In fact, abbots of Iona in the Pictish lands infuriated English clerics with none other than their hair. The accepted style at the time was ‘Tonsure of Saint Peter’ a band or crown of hair encircling a shaved scalp.
This is the style most associated with medieval monks. However, the monks of the Picts resisted the greatly. Instead, they wore their hair with the front of the scalp completely bare a style regarded by English clerics as heretical and archaic. The origin of the Celtic style is unknown, but it was certainly ancient and likely had druidic origins. Beyond that, the Celtic monks favored an ancient method of calculating the date of easter. And so stubbornly did they cling to this that at times the Pictish King and Queen celebrated easter on different days, based on their church affiliations. Much is documented of the attempts of Roman and English monks to persuade the Picts to change their ways, which is met with stubborn refusal for many years until eventually a degree from the king at the time forced the change.
The historical record shows the Picts to be a proud, passionate people who held out for the longest against the encroachment of the Christian church. With the church's notorious history of destroying native cultures, it comes as little surprise that so much of the culture of the Picts has been lost to time. Fortunately, despite the church's best efforts to regularly control culture, religion, and even bodily presentation, much has survived of indigenous cultures around the world. For modern folks who can trace their lineage to Britain and Scotland, and the highlands of the Picts, we find a people who celebrated their pagan and druidic heritage and retained their old ways well into the sixth and seventh centuries. Today, Celtic crosses and imagery are popular in modern tattooing, and I would like to believe that our Pictish ancestors smile down on the practice that the church tried, and failed, to eradicate from native Britton.
