The following describes a few (of many) henna traditions in India, the bridal shower and its use in old harems.
Mehndi is widely accepted as a form of spiritual celebration and worship as well as common cosmetic. Oppi Untract, an author and expert on ethnic Indian adornment, states, “by adorning the visible, material body, women also seek to satisfy a universal longing for the embellishment of its intangible counterpart, the human spirit.
1” A woman’s first application of mehndi is around the time of her first menstruation. It transforms her from a virgin child to a seductress—this is when she is taught the “arts of love,” and begins to prepare herself for marriage.2 Mehndi is listed in the Kama Sutra as one of the 64 arts for women.
The art of henna painting is passed on from mothers to daughters in all of the castes of India—from the peasants, to the harem women, and to the princesses and goddesses. Typically, women afforded great amounts of leisure time were most often decorated with henna. Harem women, princesses and consorts are included in this group. Henna is a principal part of the harem woman’s beauty ritual; special trips were made to the bathhouses where henna was used as a hair dye to cover up gray hair, as well as an antiperspirant to cover the soles of their feet.3 The henna plant has also been used to treat ulcers of the mouth, burns, hot swellings and small scratches.
It was many hundreds of years ago when the application of henna to a woman’s hands and feet first assumed the form of an intricate ritual. Henna is a good omen to be used during auspicious occasions such as weddings and religious festivals, births and naming ceremonies, circumcisions, birthdays and holidays. The Indian bridal shower is a rite of passage itself—women gather to sing, dance, eat, and tease the bride. Mehndi is purely for physical adornment, an emblem to decorate a woman’s body. The bridal shower is also an informal chance to acknowledge the powerful commitment between the newlyweds. Indian women offer the bride gifts and advice on married life; the party is given to calm the bride and keep her spirits high, for her wedding will be the most important day in her life. A specialist may be hired to paint the bride with henna; she also provides anecdotes and jokes to entertain the bride and her guests.
The artist covers the bride’s hands and feet with flowers, curly arabesques, paisleys, mangos and vines. The lotus flower, a frequently used mehndi design, is an important symbol of purity in Hinduism and Buddhism. The peacock, the national bird of India, is another traditional Indian motif. The groom’s initials will often be hidden in the design. It is believed that if he is unable to find them, the bride will be the dominant force in the marriage. Indian women believe that the darker the color of the henna stain, the deeper the mother-in-law’s love for the new bride will be. The new bride will not have to perform any household chores before the design has disappeared. One old wives’ tale describes a cunning young girl who secretly reapplied the henna each night so her stain never wore off.4
