Swallow Tattoo Meaning
The swallow is one of the oldest images in Western tattooing. It comes from sailors, and its main meaning has not changed in more than a century: coming home.
The sailor's swallow
In sailor tradition a swallow was tattooed after a long distance at sea — the popular story says one for every five thousand nautical miles. Because swallows fly back to the same place every year, the bird was a wish to return home safely from the voyage.
Coming home
Today a swallow still stands for return: to a homeland, to a family, to oneself after a hard time away. Sailor lore also held that swallows would carry the soul of a drowned sailor to heaven, which gives the bird a memorial meaning as well.
Loyalty and love
Swallows often return to the same nest and the same partner, so two swallows facing each other stand for faithful love and for a bond that brings people back to each other.
Freedom
A swallow in flight is also simply a symbol of freedom, lightness and the open sky — a common choice for people who travel or who have left something heavy behind.
Swallows in black and grey
In American traditional flash the swallow is bold and colorful; in black and grey it becomes a realistic bird with fine feathers and a deep forked tail. Swallows fit the chest below the collarbones, the hands, the neck and the forearm, often in pairs.
Swallow Tattoo Questions
What does a swallow tattoo symbolize?
Coming home safely, loyalty, love and freedom.
Why did sailors get swallow tattoos?
To mark long distances at sea and as a wish to return home; by sailor lore swallows also carried the souls of drowned sailors to heaven.
What does a pair of swallows mean?
Faithful love and a bond that brings two people back to each other.