There has been a huge demand in the past half decade for spiritually and religious themed body art that are used to express one’s faith and beliefs however one of the most popular, if somewhat morbid, has to be day of the dead tattoos. 
One of the most popular icons associated with this Mexican religious holiday, which is also celebrated in many other countries around the world, has to be the iconic sugar skull. Let us take a look at this tradition in more detail and see how this particular icon fits into the festivities.
Dia de los Muertos, is not only celebrated by Mexicans or Catholics but by many who have no religious interests whatsoever and unlike Halloween, which precedes it, this holiday is not actually as dark and ominous as the name suggests. This tradition was actually started by the Aztecs over three and a half thousand years ago, and this was a month long celebration in honor of the deceased. These festivities actually welcomed the spirits of the dead back to earth for a visit and during this ritual skulls were often displayed to symbolize life, death and rebirth. Unfortunately when the Catholic Spanish Conquistadors permeated the land that would later be known as Mexico, they deemed these pagan practices to be sacrilegious and tried to put an end to it. Ironically, not only were they unsuccessful but many Catholics in modern society now celebrate this holiday along with more acceptable” Catholic holidays, like All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day. 
Flowers are also a big part of this celebration so these are often used alongside the sugar skull for day of the dead tattoos which significantly alters the style of this design for a more colorful but equally symbolic tattoo.
For the festivities the sugar skulls are made simply from sugar, meringue powder, and water and this mixture is pressed into a mold and allowed to dry, creating a plain white three-dimensional skull. It is then that the artistic part of sugar skull creation begins as the decoration commences. The icing is usually made in a variety of bright colors and is used to decorate the eyes, head and face with flowers, hats and other objects added in honor of the deceased. A blank area is often left on the forehead to write the name of the person that it is dedicated to, and this is a popular feature on body art of this nature as many day of the dead tattoos are depicted in multi-colored designs with the person’s name adorning the forehead of the skull.
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