I love henna. I love the scent of it, the feel of it, the beautiful, temporary, painless design it leaves on my skin for myself and others to admire. Though in America henna has become just another body art, in India it is an important aspect of the marriage ritual. A bride’s hands and feet are covered with intricate henna designs as part of her wedding outfit, the designs often containing sentimental or auspicious symbols, calling for the gods’ blessing.
Henna, if mixed and applied properly, can last up to four weeks on the hands. One tradition allows that a bride will not be required to do any housework until the last traces of her henna designs have vanished from her skin. Seems like a good reason to make sure that henna paste is mixed very well. 
Another henna tradition that is practiced is for the henna artist to hide the groom’s name or initials somewhere within the henna designs done on the bride. On the wedding night, the groom must find his initials within the design, allowing the couple to be physically intimate and comfortable with one another before the marriage is consummated. My research has given me different explanations, but from what I gather, if the groom does not find his initials, he must either give his new bride a gift, or it’s a bad omen for the marriage.
I have heard of a few rare cases in which a bride was crazy enough to have henna applied all over her body (which, believe me, would be a chore!), and somewhere within the design had her groom’s name hidden. Now that would be an interesting hunt! Plenty of close-up, detailed exploring required to get the wedding night started…
No comments:
Post a Comment