Sankofa: It is not taboo to go back and fetch what you forgot...

So guess what? Ya girl got a tatt...yup. I got a tattoo today..I always knew I wanted the sankofa symbol, but there was something about today that made it perfect. Honestly, I never thought I would get a tattoo, they never really appealed that much to me, so I knew if I get one, it would be for me and it had to be something "meaningful, " but for the past few months I have been battling where...I feel like there aren't that many tasteful places on a female body to get it, but I decided upon the perfect place. First let me tell you all about my glorious tatt...

So like I said it is of the Sankofa symbol it has a few different meanings, but they all essentially mean the same thing...here are some of the meanings off of various websites...

Sankofa (return and fetch it).
"SE wo werE fi na wosankofa a yenkyi."
It is no taboo to return and fetch it when you forget.
You can always undo your mistakes.

Symbol of Wisdom, Knowledge, and the People's Heritage

The symbol is based on a mythical bird that flies forwards with its head turned backwards. This reflects the Akan belief that the past serves as a guide for planning the future, or the wisdom in learning from the past in building the future.

The Akan believe that there must be movement with times but as the forward march proceeds, the gems must be picked from behind and carried forward on the march.

That is, we should reach back and gather the best of what our past has to teach us, so that we can achieve our full potential as we move forward. Whatever we have lost, forgotten, forgone or been stripped of, can be reclaimed, revived, preserved and perpetuated.

So...wow! It is making me fall in love with my tatt again, so yeah. I believe that the past is soooo important, in my life, in others lives and in society and often I feel as though people try and move on, without understanding what happened and why. Basically I have wanted this tatt for a while, but I am soo glad that I finally got it, hopefully, I will post a real pic of it on my foot, that is where I got it. I will like to believe that my beliefs ground me so that is a reason I got it there and also as I said above that there aren't that many tasteful places to get a tattoo...anyways..I went with my best friend, although it was kind of impulse it wasn't because I thought about it for sooo long.

On a lesser note, my day was seriously fun filled, so I went and got my car from the mechanic this morning, then went to my best friends place, got some Sonic to eat, then got my tatt, then went to Rocky Mtn/bar, then Ikea, then went to Ross, then Walmart, then Krispy Kreme, then MJQ/club, then C. Lounge...(lol), then a Bar for Karoke...lol. Looooong day, but I loved every minute of it, glad my bestie is back from Europe. :)

Oh yeah one more thing to say about my tatt, I actually knew that I wanted to get it, my Junior year of college when I took African American Religion with Dr. Stewart for a writing requirement. (Thanks to Emory and our random requirements). Anyways, at the end we watched a movie called "Sankofa," the plot summary from IMDb is below...

A self-absorbed Black American fashion model on a photo shoot in Africa is spiritually transported back to a plantation in the West Indies where she experiences first-hand the physical and psychic horrors of chattel slavery, and eventually the redemptive power of community and rebellion as she becomes a member of a freedom-seeking Maroon colony.

The movie is very moving and sometimes graphic, but I think it gets the point across. Often I feel as though African Americans forget...forget what? Forget A LOT! Even though my parents are immigrants to this country, they have still done sooooo much for me, so that I can get to where I am at...I am sooo grateful! And I want my tatt to be a constant reminder...whew! I am just really happy that I had the courage and "gumption"...lol.

Oh and that is another thing, I don't care what people tell you...Tattoos HURT! Maybe because I got it on my foot, but don't let anyone lie to you...I definitely wasn't prepared and I was squeezing the heck out of my friends hand..lol. Well that is all for now...Until Next Time...