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Hagoromo is a beautiful goddess of Japanese myth and sometimes a subject of Japanese tattoo art. The story of the mortal who stole an ANGEL'S cloak and so prevented her return to heaven is widely spread across the globe, as is the story of an angel or NYMPH who flies down to earth and arouses the love of a mortal. In the case of Hagoromo, she visits a poverty-stricken farmer and ends up granting him everlasting abundance when he takes pity on her and returns her sheer veil, covered with STARS, after seeing her weep. She may be less holy than CANNON, but she has a sexy side to her, and is usually depicted as being better looking than he is.

Holidays are rarely the subject of tattoo symbolism but Halloween is a notable exception. Scenes including JACK.OI.LANTERNS, a scary house at night, and BATS or WITCHES against a full MOON are part of the celebration of a night that used to be known as All Hallows' Eve. Begun in ancient Britain to mark various points in the year for the different peoples of the region, it served as the recognized end of summer and also the start of a new year. It was a time of renewal but also a time of looking backward, as the souls of the dead were believed to pay a visit on this evening. Eventually all manner of ghosts, witches, GOBLINS, black CATS, and demons were thought to be roaming about making trouble for the living. In the modern day, it is a holiday mostly celebrated by and for children but with costumes and parties that recall something of the mischief and mystery that were originally part of the celebration.

The halo is a symbol of holiness, a representation of an enlightened spirit using a ring of light. Usually it is displayed as a radiance around the head and sometimes as a MANDORLA around the whole body, as is common with the VIRGIN OF GUADALUPE tattoo. Apart from saints and images of JESUS, the most common form of the halo in tattoo art is a brilliantly radiant gold ring suspended over any number of people or things. In theseimages it conveys less a sense of the sacred and more the center of spiritual energy or the presence of something uniquely important and special. Halos also convey the notion that a person, or pet, is deceased but still very much alive to the bearer of the tattoo, at least in a spiritual way.

The sledgehammer grasped by a well-muscled arm is the standard artwork symbol both for various labor and communist movements; however, the design was most famously employed by Soviet artists. Sometimes called "Soviet Realism" or "Socialist Realism," the saturated colors, heavy black outlines, bold typography, and a use of photomontage compositions are all combined to produce a look that is overtly monumental and heroic, especially in poster art adapted for tattoo images. Intended as a glorification of the new society that was being forged in the early 1900s, these images have today come to symbolize not only the communist movement but the propaganda techniques and cultural flavor of the time. The HAMMER, SICKLE, and a field of red (sometimes specifically replaced by a red STAR) are also the symbols of the former Soviet Union.

Suggesting might, activity, and brute force, the hammer is used in symbolism that centers around power. It was the tool of the Norse god THOR and the Japanese god DAIKOKU. First the symbol of the blacksmith, who turned raw metals into -room it was not a far step for it then to be associated with creation. Hammers were also occasionally used on the battlefield as weapons. More recently, it has been paired with the SICKLE in communist iconography as tools of the worker and peasant, whose cause this political system is meant to champion.

The hammerhead SHARK, like the GREAT WHITE, is a particular species of shark that has found some popularity in tattoo designs. Like the great white, it has been known to attack humans without provocation. With a gray-brown coloring on top and an off-white underside, the most striking thing about this species is, of course, the head. It is almost rectangular in shape, resembling a "T," with the eyes set at the ends. The largest, and most dangerous, type of hammerhead shark typically reaches a length of about fifteen feet.