Question
Hi Scorpion,
Thanks for the archives which is full of interesting questions and answers. My question is, What is the meaning of the sign on Cryptic Writings album?
Sifat
Bangladesh
Answer
Hello Sifat,
It is called a "Veve". It was a style of writing warnings and notices for what we would call "homeless travelers" or "hobos". They indicate safety as well as danger, shelter, etc.
Here's what Dave Mustaine had to say regarding the cover soon after the album was released:
"It's called a veve ... It's a voodoo symbol... It means that you can enter into a premises, that it's safe and there is no poison. It's a warning telling you where you can and can not go. It's also a direction. Most of the hobos were people who practiced voodoo. They would go from building to building whether it was a shanty or it was a shack. They would go in there and they'd find chalk writings on the wall that told them if it was a safe place. It was usually done with a burnt stick... When I first got the artwork back it was littered with voodoo symbols and all kinds of stuff. I told them that it was too heavy. I didn't want anything on there that would give homage to pagan gods and shit like that. I want it to be about the music. As it is, that symbol right there, we don't really know exactly what the combination of everything is. We know pretty much what the breakdown of each symbol is but it's like crossing different kinds of medications. You take two separate medications and they have a different and combined effect. There might be something where those symbols counter another symbol and turn it into something else."
-ScorpioN
