Luis Shares Two Lotería Cards

I met Luis in Borders, Penn Plaza, last month and asked him about his tattoos. He has more than fifteen altogether, and three are based on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loter%C3%ADa_%28board_game%29"><i>Lotería</i></a> cards, which are used as part of a Mexican bingo game, as well as in fortune-telling.<br /><br />He shared two of these cards with me and explained that, as a first generation Mexican-American, these Lotería cards remind him of growing up.<br /><br />The first one he explained is number 21, <i>La Mano</i>:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFU7MqePMAGBCh4JctDIrSKHqxqfm13ybU4yXZbLIT6p96P_NR6bBolH4ZUZajdIpeKdad1euxIOkCfImMAsaO2nuHXmjuBbrrfWGNjAFcuQgb0ARi3VPeO37h1eoauGHpPvI3G-mMEIU/s1600/La+Mano+Loteria.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFU7MqePMAGBCh4JctDIrSKHqxqfm13ybU4yXZbLIT6p96P_NR6bBolH4ZUZajdIpeKdad1euxIOkCfImMAsaO2nuHXmjuBbrrfWGNjAFcuQgb0ARi3VPeO37h1eoauGHpPvI3G-mMEIU/s640/La+Mano+Loteria.jpg" width="418" /></a></div><br />Luis explained that he relates to this card because "la mano" is Spanish for hand, and  he is a builder/electrician/carpenter by trade. He considers himself a "designer of ideas," and because he works with his hands, this is an appropriate card to have as a tattoo.<br /><br />The second one he let me photograph is number 27<i>, El corazón:</i><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXd-Zr_wAzK5toEfrgvPT5NgRZQJBXmqrXflD6aHtrZKFOpjj48ixLpK0Ybjw3l_jNuWDAXlwMDHonZJEWuH9LHWcHzlyVytIXxuNllefqzSg-SpC3_B4oiZEzomOQhtzeVfKlm-RAnvw/s1600/El+Corazon+Loteria.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXd-Zr_wAzK5toEfrgvPT5NgRZQJBXmqrXflD6aHtrZKFOpjj48ixLpK0Ybjw3l_jNuWDAXlwMDHonZJEWuH9LHWcHzlyVytIXxuNllefqzSg-SpC3_B4oiZEzomOQhtzeVfKlm-RAnvw/s640/El+Corazon+Loteria.jpg" width="420" /></a></div><br />This card is appropriate, according to Luis, because "El corazón" means the heart and, Luis said, smiling, "I've got a big one".<br /><br />There are a lot of different artistic representations of these cards out on the web, which tells me that they serve as inspiration for a lot of people.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBKpoCy4KGFTX2ruTJ_0GPyAniQS2v_sz9RGuLdtcr-l5egyecKbMijgO7NpRerwEEn6zbJDYGY18JTBh_lhq0h6_tGQ28PaIFKwE9ILJIrvVHbb3pF83c7_6zuDusIQMw-nJi-7-ut-k/s1600/loteria-contents.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBKpoCy4KGFTX2ruTJ_0GPyAniQS2v_sz9RGuLdtcr-l5egyecKbMijgO7NpRerwEEn6zbJDYGY18JTBh_lhq0h6_tGQ28PaIFKwE9ILJIrvVHbb3pF83c7_6zuDusIQMw-nJi-7-ut-k/s400/loteria-contents.jpg" width="326" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image courtesy of <a href="http://www.luckymojo.com/loteria.html">"The Lucky W" Amulet Archive by Cat Yronwode</a></td></tr></tbody></table>Luis had these tattoos done by a tattoo artist named <a href="http://thinktanktattoo.com/index.php/fish/">Fish</a>, who was visiting <a href="http://www.savedtattoo.com/">Saved Tattoo</a> in Brooklyn, but generally works out of <a href="http://www.thinktanktattoo.com/">Th'ink Tank Tattoo</a> in Denver. Work from Th'ink Tank appeared <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2009/11/scotts-heart-is-testament-to-love-and.html">here</a> once before.<br /><br />Thanks to Luis for sharing these two Lotería cards with us here on Tattoosday!<i> </i><br /><i> </i>

Luis Shares Two Lotería Cards

I met Luis in Borders, Penn Plaza, last month and asked him about his tattoos. He has more than fifteen altogether, and three are based on ...

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