Until yesterday I didn’t really know what you did at mehndi during marriages besides what I had seen while watching a movie called Monsoon Wedding before I had left for India. In the movie mehndi included an all woman gathering who were singing, clapping, and enjoying together while applying mehndi, or henna. I was surprised to find out that this was pretty accurate in its portrayal of the whole mehndi scene. The marriage was for the son of one of the Rotarians in my club, and the marriage is to take place in a couple days after all of the beginning festivities.
The whole mehndi took place in the neighborhood of one of my friends, and I just met up with my friend and her mom before heading to mehndi. When we were walking there I realized I didin’t really know what to expect, but as we approached the house I saw the brightly colored canopy set up around the yard of the house and the huge group of ladies sitting on chairs and covered mattresses on the ground holding there hands about their heads. Of course they weren’t being caught for some great crime, but no one in their right mind would want to smudge their mehndi!
Mehndi is supposed to bring blessings, luck, joy, and beauty for those who wear it, and it a fun and special day for some Indian weddings. In the case of my Mehandi party there were only women having mehndi done, but there are certain cultures in India that have both the bride and groom have mehndi applied. Personally I really think this is a time to get all the women away from the men for a good old fashioned gossip fest.
Before starting to have our own mehndi put on by one of the many mehndi artists available we went to say hello to all of the aunties and our other friends who were there. When one of my friends got started she had both hands held hostage as two different girls applied mehndi on the palm and up both sides the arm to the elbow. The mehndi girls are really fast at their artwork, and they just made their artwork seem like a dance between their mehndi cones and their fingers. I was the last of my friends to get mehndi done because I wanted to watch so when I was getting mine done I had a little audience of my own.
I really like getting mehndi done because it is like carrying a nonpermanent work of art on your arm. Also has such a neat feel as they are putting it on, rhythmically making the strokes, leaving a type of cold wetness to sit and harden, becoming really itching for the next five hours. There were about ten girls there applying mehndi, and although lots of women were present the girls just whipped through one woman after another. One funny thing was watching women trying to move their bags around, answer their cell phones, and move their hair out of their face when they can’t use their hands and feet are taboo. I must say they can be very creative, and it was hilarious watching people use their armpits, elbows, a finger, or their neighbor to accomplish these simple tasks.
Even though getting it put on is really fun the best part is sitting and waiting for the mehndi to dry with all of the ladies. Right after I finished my mehndi one of the older ladies in the group brought out her song book and started a group of ladies singing up a storm. They weren’t really songs that I knew, but it was really fun to listen. Just picture a bunch of ladies in their 60’s holding their hands up and grooving as they sing at the top of their lungs in hindi. By this time all of the chairs were full, and the multiple mattresses laid out were full of different groups of ladies showing off and admiring the hands of one another. Pretty soon the snacks came out, and like any good Indian would our host spent a huge amount of energy making people keep filling their plates and cups.
After the whole mehndi extravaganza I waited at my friends house for my mehndi to dry, and gradually picked all the henna off. My host mother warned me not to let water touch it before tomorrow to allow the color to darken (the darker the color the more your future will love you), but then she started to make me peel garlic. Of all the things she could make me do in the kitchen this is a task that leaves the hands sticky and smelly, and instead of washing it off with water I tried lemon juice which is supposed to help darken it also.
Part of the fun mehndi day included a dance/entertainment program complete with food, and dancing for everyone afterwards. Watching the dance program was fun, but I really loved the dancing afterwards. The whole neighborhood of teenage girls and a couple of my other friends and I all got up on stage working on our dance moves to the latest bollywood songs. Nowadays I am pretty much in love with bollywood songs and spend a lot of time humming the tunes or singing in the kitchen with my host mother.
Luckily for me when I woke up the next day my mehndi was super dark!
The whole mehndi took place in the neighborhood of one of my friends, and I just met up with my friend and her mom before heading to mehndi. When we were walking there I realized I didin’t really know what to expect, but as we approached the house I saw the brightly colored canopy set up around the yard of the house and the huge group of ladies sitting on chairs and covered mattresses on the ground holding there hands about their heads. Of course they weren’t being caught for some great crime, but no one in their right mind would want to smudge their mehndi!
Mehndi is supposed to bring blessings, luck, joy, and beauty for those who wear it, and it a fun and special day for some Indian weddings. In the case of my Mehandi party there were only women having mehndi done, but there are certain cultures in India that have both the bride and groom have mehndi applied. Personally I really think this is a time to get all the women away from the men for a good old fashioned gossip fest.
Before starting to have our own mehndi put on by one of the many mehndi artists available we went to say hello to all of the aunties and our other friends who were there. When one of my friends got started she had both hands held hostage as two different girls applied mehndi on the palm and up both sides the arm to the elbow. The mehndi girls are really fast at their artwork, and they just made their artwork seem like a dance between their mehndi cones and their fingers. I was the last of my friends to get mehndi done because I wanted to watch so when I was getting mine done I had a little audience of my own.
I really like getting mehndi done because it is like carrying a nonpermanent work of art on your arm. Also has such a neat feel as they are putting it on, rhythmically making the strokes, leaving a type of cold wetness to sit and harden, becoming really itching for the next five hours. There were about ten girls there applying mehndi, and although lots of women were present the girls just whipped through one woman after another. One funny thing was watching women trying to move their bags around, answer their cell phones, and move their hair out of their face when they can’t use their hands and feet are taboo. I must say they can be very creative, and it was hilarious watching people use their armpits, elbows, a finger, or their neighbor to accomplish these simple tasks.
Even though getting it put on is really fun the best part is sitting and waiting for the mehndi to dry with all of the ladies. Right after I finished my mehndi one of the older ladies in the group brought out her song book and started a group of ladies singing up a storm. They weren’t really songs that I knew, but it was really fun to listen. Just picture a bunch of ladies in their 60’s holding their hands up and grooving as they sing at the top of their lungs in hindi. By this time all of the chairs were full, and the multiple mattresses laid out were full of different groups of ladies showing off and admiring the hands of one another. Pretty soon the snacks came out, and like any good Indian would our host spent a huge amount of energy making people keep filling their plates and cups.
After the whole mehndi extravaganza I waited at my friends house for my mehndi to dry, and gradually picked all the henna off. My host mother warned me not to let water touch it before tomorrow to allow the color to darken (the darker the color the more your future will love you), but then she started to make me peel garlic. Of all the things she could make me do in the kitchen this is a task that leaves the hands sticky and smelly, and instead of washing it off with water I tried lemon juice which is supposed to help darken it also.
Part of the fun mehndi day included a dance/entertainment program complete with food, and dancing for everyone afterwards. Watching the dance program was fun, but I really loved the dancing afterwards. The whole neighborhood of teenage girls and a couple of my other friends and I all got up on stage working on our dance moves to the latest bollywood songs. Nowadays I am pretty much in love with bollywood songs and spend a lot of time humming the tunes or singing in the kitchen with my host mother.
Luckily for me when I woke up the next day my mehndi was super dark!
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