RESEARCH OF CONTEMPORARY PERCEPTION OF TRADITIONAL TATTOOS ON THE EXAMPLE OF TATTOOS OF CATHOLIC WOMEN FROM BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

The paper deals with tattoos of Catholic women from Bosnia and Herzegovina, function of the tattoo from the identity, religious and communication aspect, primarily as a means of non-verbal visual communication as well as its contemporary perception. The traditional/religious tattoo on the example of tattooed Catholic women from BiH, which is the subject of this research, represents a conscious bodily modification historically conditioned by the environment and culture. The paper studied perception of traditional/religious tattoos taking into consideration the fact that more than 90% of the population of the Republic of Croatia are declared believers and whether a person with a tattooed religious symbol is a believer, or whether that person is perceived as a believer because of a tattooed religious symbol/sign. The paper also discusses the possibility of traditional tattoos contribution to the process of new evangelization. The research was conducted on a sample of 310 respondents, and the aim of the research is to determine the perception of religious/traditional tattoos, i.e. whether they are influenced by sociodemographic characteristics, whether it is generally acceptable or declared believers have a more positive attitude and can the traditional tattoo be a communication symbol of declared believers.