Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with These Tattoos Inspired by Mexican Culture

Cinco de Mayo is often celebrated with Coronas and too much tequila. But what about with a trip to the tattoo shop?

Freddy Negrete, one of the fathers of the Chicano style black-and-grey fine line tattooing, along with Mister Cartoon, Tamara Santibañez, Chuco Moreno, and Chuey Quintanar, are extremely respected artists for their Chicano tattoos.

Cinco de Mayo — not to be mistaken for Mexico’s Independence Day— celebrates the Mexican Army’s victory over the French Empire at the Battle of Puebla, on May 5, 1862. In the United States, Cinco de Mayo has been popularly celebrated (often with tequila and Coronas) and has become associated with the celebration of Mexican-American culture.

In terms of celebrating Cinco de Mayo with tattoos, common symbols for Mexican-culture inspired ink include: payasas, skulls and skeletons, roses, the Virgin Mary, rosaries, suns and moons, Aztec artifacts, and Roman Catholic iconography. Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with these tattoos inspired by Mexican culture: