THE HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXT OF TATTOOIn the article "Secret Ink: The Place of Tattoo in Contemporary American Culture", the author briefly examines the historical facts of tattooing. I would like to expand the question in terms of logical reinforcement of the developing theme. The tradition of tattooing dates back thousands of years. Long before the advent of architecture, music and fashion, our ancestors decorated their bodies. Archaeological findings suggest that body drawings were practiced in all cultures around the world. Tattoos are evident in wall paintings and clay figurines from ancient Egypt, Greece, South America, and Mexico (Miller JC. The body art book. New York: Berkley Books; 1997 .) “A European artist painted the portrait of an old Maori. It was a very good painting. However, when the portrait depicted a New Zealander, he asked who it represented. The artist took this question as a joke, but the Maori took a brush and painted on the free side of the strip of canvas. pretzels tattoo his face. When he finished, he began to instruct the Europeans: "This is what I look like, and your rags don't make any sense"( H. Hanke on the seven seas. Sailor, death and the devil. Chronicle of antiquity.Moscow: Misl ',1989).The Maoris - the indigenous people of New Zealand - made a tattoo in the form of a moko facial mask (moko), this is a moko-mask mentioned in the story of the ethnographer Moko who combined permanent war paint, the signs of. the military prowess and social status of its owner. If the deceased soldier on his face was a moko mask, he was given the highest honor - his head cut off and kept as a relic of the tribe. And the corpses of the soldiers, deprived of moko, left without burial (H.Per, H.Frank Tattoo, Gender and Social Stratification in Micro-Polynesia. The ......middle of paper ......are stained .CONCLUSIONIn ancient times, people used to get tattoos on their bodies due to certain circumstances - religious ceremonies, celebrations and many other events. The attitude towards tattoos has changed throughout history depending on various. historical, cultural, religious and other factors. Tattooing is still psychologically considered extravagant and in most cases meets with social rejection. But anyway, self-expression through ink has become common. The reason for the popularity of tattoos can be considered the freedom of expression of modern society and the intrinsic motivation of each person. This thus creates a dissonance between the active popularization of tattooing and the complete non-acceptance of this phenomenon by. society, which leads to a psychological contradiction at the societal and individual levels..