You may have wondered the meaning of the spider web elbow tattoo.
This post will explain that to you.
If you’ve ever seen a spider web tattoo, which you almost certainly have, you’ve probably wondered what the significance of the unusual design is.
There are a lot of positive and negative meanings associated with these tattoos.
We’ll look at some of those spider web elbow tattoo meanings, and the impact it has had over time.
Countless myths and legends about spiders exist in all cultures.
Spiders can be seen on tribal tattoos all over the world.
They are rarely aggressive towards humans.
However, over time, the meaning of this drawing gradually expanded and it began to represent larger issues and entanglements, both in terms of drugs and lost loves.
Because the spider’s web as such is a trap that spiders build to hunt their prey, which dies after a long agony.
In the wild, spiders create a wide variety of unique and beautiful webs to catch their food.
What Does Spider Web Elbow Tattoo Symbolize?
Spider web tattoos began to appear on the elbows of gang members, to indicate that those wearing them had killed someone.
Each ring in the spider’s web represented a year spent in prison for this crime.
But this tattoo also represents, within the gangs, a problem, or an addiction: metaphorically, the fact of being caught in a problematic situation.
The spider web tattoo was also a common tattoo in prison that symbolized racism and/or meant that a person was “trapped in the system”
The elbow tattoo for its part, referred to the prison environment and outlaws in general, especially through the motif most associated with it, the spider web.
Other prisoners have these canvases tattooed on their elbows to represent time spent in prison: the larger the canvas, the more important the prisoner’s sentence.
According to the Anishinaabe people of Canada, the web was significant because the spiders cast a magical web to protect their children.
Today, it seems that the important meaning of this tattoo is no longer taken into account so much because it became very popular and, while in its time, it was a symbol of a rather obscure style.
Belonging only to small violent groups, today it has become so popular that it is no longer possible to consider it as a completely defined symbol.
When referring to Japanese culture, a spider web can be both a good and a bad sign.
If the web is seen during the day, it means good luck.
Conversely, a web viewed at night spells misfortune.
In some cases, spider web tattoos represent a tangled situation, full of complex problems to stay away from.
Some of the people who tattoo a spider web on their elbow refer to this tattoo as an addiction they want to get out of or a feeling of entrapment.
However, in places like Asia, a much more optimistic meaning is given to spider webs: Asians see, in cobwebs, a symbol of beauty, perfection, and fortune.
Therefore, tattoos symbolize what everyone wants them to symbolize.
It depends heavily on the person choosing the tattoo: Was the person in a certain emotional state, drunk or very sober, and sure about it?
Did he/she choose it him/herself?
Is it someone who has a preference for Arachnids?
Or is it someone who feels that it would signal a certain cultural or urban meaning that he/she read about?
Perhaps it was just to hide a scar?
Each person gives their tattoo a special meaning.
But taking into account the symbolic representation of the chosen motif throughout the story is not a bad idea either.