- Union
- Love
- Grace
- Dreams
- Purity
- Beauty
If there’s one tattoo symbol that’s associated with love and affection more than any other, it’s the swan. Swans are often the centerpiece of children stories, such as “The Ugly Duckling”, and always seem to promote a feeling of calmness and peace.
Especially when they’re in the water, a swan stretches its wings with a divine grace, perfected over thousands of years of evolution.
Within symbolism, the swan stand for grace, beauty, the love of poetry, and music. Swans were sacred to the God Apollo in ancient Greece. Serenity, silence, self reflection, self empowerment, and beauty are also well known swan symbol associations.
Dreams are often attributed to swans because of their dreamy persona. It’s quite rare to see a swan in distress for very long. Instead, swans glide along the water slowly, with gentle, calm movements. Quiet, peaceful environments seem to be the swans official “calling card”.
You frequently see swans at weddings because of their kinship with lifelong mating. A swan will never stray from its mate willingly, and stays with the same mate their whole life. Their calm, serene disposition and kinship to lifelong fidelity makes them the perfect wedding accent.
It’s illegal to kill a swan in the UK, and although they’re not associated with strength and power, they’re actually quite massive in size. They’re one of the largest waterfoul bird species on earth. In Native American culture, the swan acts as a Messenger of Faith for Dakota/Lakota religious ceremonies.
Now the black swan, on the other hand, is a very rare sight. It represents the exact opposite of the white swan. Suffering, death, mystery, and malay of all sorts are associated with black swans. In other words, they’re a bad omen. And due to the fact that they’re so rare, people have even been known to become emotionally disturbed when they see them. Black swans are just bad news, plain and simple.