Lily Tattoo Designs

The Lily is the most symbolic and often considered the most beautiful flower, with its large and beautiful white or purple petals shaped in a trumpet and sitting ona long, slender and graceful stem.

Lily tattoo designs can symbolise many different things - very commonly they mean chastity, purity and innocence. But interestingly the Lily also can symbolise erotic love and procreation - two different meanings coming from very different cultures.

The ambiguity of meaning in a Lily image adds to it's attractiveness as a tattoo design. A Lily tattoo design can mean many different things to different people. And it has done so through history.

In the bible the Lily was represented as a symbol of surrender to God's will and faith. Religious people who choose Lily tattoo designs sometimes mean the it as a symbol of their faith. The Lily is also often used for decoration around Easter because it has been used as a symbol of Christ.

 A rather different meaning was attributed to the Lily by the ancient Greeks and Egyptians, who said the Lily was a phallic symbol and gave the flower its link with fertility. This is where the flower got its association wth erotic love. Lily tattoo designs were commonly used in ancient cultures - the most beautiful of flowers gripped the imaginations of people throughout history as it does to this day.

As another example, the French royal family used the Lily flower as a design on the Fleur-de-Lis on their coat of arms in the 12th century. Their image of the Lily was with three ppetals bound at the base - which they believed would secure their royal line and the family's prosperity and success.

Why Lily Tattoos Represent Purity

The earlier interpretations of the meaning of lily tattoo designs, or Lily's in any art, was that of erotic love and fertility. But later, during the renaissance in Europe, artists began to use Lilies in their art as a symbol of purity, chastity and innocence. In many depictions of the Angel Gabriel announcing to Mary that she was to be the virgin mother of Jesus, he is often shown handing her a Lily.

So lily tattoo designs can mean many different things, but it really is up to the individual wearing the tattoo to decide what their own unique lily tattoo design means to them. The ambiguity in meaning, or the flower's ability to represent both erotic love and innocent purity at teh same time, this is actually quite atractve to many people looking for a flower tattoo.

Lilies make beautiful designs that can be very varied in their shape, design and colour in a lily tattoo design. And they can look good on both men and women. If you are looking for a lily tattoo design that is completely unique, it is not hard to achieve as there are so many designs available, and a good tattooist could help you to adjust a chosen design if you like to make it perfectly unique to you.