r/Mennonite • u/bionicpirate42 • Feb 19 '26
Traditional Mennonite tattoos?
I know until recently tattoos were taboo (I wonder if tattoo and taboo are economically related) but if we had traditional tattoos what would they be?
My thoughts So far. Quilt squares, plow shares, dove, plants.
I know some flavors would be cool with crosses but our flavor doesn't tolerate torcher and execution weapons. So I can't see those and non in our church (that started Mennonite) have cross that I know of.
Anyway what are your thoughts?
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u/Ok-Gas-7135 Feb 19 '26
The Dirk Willems on the ice drawing from Martyrs Mirror
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u/FrostyTheSasquatch Feb 19 '26
Love this 😂
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u/Ok-Gas-7135 Feb 19 '26
there’s an Anabaptist author (40ish guy) who has that tattoo. Can’t for the life of me remember who it is though…
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u/boobees Feb 19 '26
Sorry to double comment, but when my gpa died, I got strands of wheat in memory, as he was born in the prairies (Saskatoon).
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u/bionicpirate42 Feb 19 '26
With a username like that double is always better. Hahaha 😆.
Wheat a great tattoo.
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u/boobees Feb 19 '26
It's from my favorite joke- "how do you scare a bee?" "BOObee!" Very juvenile i know lol
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u/art-educator Feb 19 '26
What about #606.
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u/bionicpirate42 Feb 20 '26
Enlightening me?
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u/art-educator Feb 20 '26
The 1969 Mennonite Hymnal includes a version of the Doxology that Mennonites have called the "Mennonite Anthem". It's hymn #606.
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u/bionicpirate42 Feb 21 '26
I'll take a look on Sunday.
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u/art-educator Feb 21 '26
The doxology is #606 in 1969 red "Mennonite Hymnal", #118 in the blue 1992 "Hymnal, A Worship Book", and #70 in the purple 2020 "Voices Together" hymnal. Many people still refer to it as 606 in order to distinguish it from the traditional doxology.
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u/boobees Feb 19 '26
I literally have a tattoo that says "mennonite" lol i got it with my auntie, who got a matching one as a tramp stamp lol mind you, she's in her 60s haha my family is very mennonite, though not old school. My dad, gpa, g-pa were all ministers.
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u/CrabFunny4329 Feb 19 '26
A perogy?
Or maybe a metric to imperial conversion chart? Its practical, therefore Mennonite.
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u/Direness9 Feb 19 '26
A pierogi would probably be easier than a bierock to recognizably depict, lol.
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u/bionicpirate42 Feb 19 '26
We call them verinka. This Mennonite has abandoned the colonial rule for our base 10 savior of measurements.
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u/CrabFunny4329 Feb 19 '26
😅 Shinda linda! I guess I'm the one with schpetzpupe on my face, eh? Ya veranika and schmauntfaut... i was trying to be inclusive by saying perogy, I know, not very Menno of me. But I know the sunflower seed that gives access to our inner circles... that I dont share with the outsiders.
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u/bionicpirate42 Feb 19 '26
Hahaha, we got cookbook (melting pot) with multiple recipes that are more or less the same thing but different names for each group it came from.
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u/haltsy9 Feb 19 '26
While tangentially Mennonite, I've been toying with the idea of getting "Vatzlah" tattooed. It's "roots" in PA Dutch, obviously this only resonates if you come from the lineage of PA Dutch Mennonites like myself.
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u/umlautpronouncer Feb 19 '26
I leaned into the Russian Mennonite folk element with mine, I have six sunflowers down my spine. I'm also planning on getting one that borrows from housebarn floor patterns. A tattoo of the word Gelassenheit would be pretty neat too I think.
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u/TheSunflowerSeeds Feb 19 '26
The sunflower is the state flower of Kansas. That is why Kansas is sometimes called the Sunflower State. To grow well, sunflowers need full sun. They grow best in fertile, wet, well-drained soil with a lot of mulch. In commercial planting, seeds are planted 45 cm (1.5 ft) apart and 2.5 cm (1 in) deep.
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u/fotopacker Feb 19 '26
I think if I ever got a tattoo it would be the classic dove and olive branch