The second day of the 4-day wedding celebration was the Mehndi ceremony. I feel strange writing this post as it was the day that I participated the least in. This day is mainly for the ladies.
The celebration began in the evening with the arrival of two gentleman who sat inside and immediately went to work mixing a thick, brown, pudding-like concoction in two steel buckets. The women all gathered in the main room of the bride's parents house (whom we've had the pleasure of staying with for the past 2 weeks) and chairs were brought in from all over the house and yard to accommodate all the bodies. Having completed the brewing of the brown paste (Mehndi, or Henna), the young men scooped it into plastic cones (think of decorating a cake with frosting) and asked for the first woman to step forward.
Elise was unanimously volunteered to go first. With a nervous smile to me she sat in the chair between the two and placed her arms face-up on their knees. Each took a mehndi-filled cone and went to work. The speed at which art formed on her hands was amazing - these two were definitely well-practised and skilled in their art! They started at her wrists and within 10 minutes had covered 95% of the skin on her palms to her finger-tips in intricate designs of thick brown goo. They turned her hands over and drew larger, more deliberate designs on the backs of her hands, and a total of 20 minutes later, she was done.
This process was repeated over and over with all the women involved in the wedding, from immediate family, to aunts, cousins, grandmothers, and any other ladies who happened to be around who wanted some henna done. It was shortly after Elise finished that I asked her how long it would take to dry. As it turns out, the process had only just begun. She was instructed to sit with her hands in the air, and informed that she would be in this posture for 2 hours. The look of panic and disapointment on her face was evident as some of the men called me to drink with them on the roof, and being a good husband, I gave her a reassuring kiss on the forehead before abandoning her for the Shirab (whisky).
The finer details of the next four hours can be found in a previous blog post, Once Upon a Toilet but one thing that was omitted from that humorous tale was my own Mehndi tattoo. Feeling a little bad that I left Elise to go drink and party with the men, and that she had to swallow her pride and have me take care of her every need, I obliged to getting a tattoo of my own done.
Elise's experience was nothing compared to the bride's, however. She was the last to get her artwork done, it started close to her elbows and went all the way to her fingertips, and then she had her feet and ankles done as well. It was close to midnight by the time her mehndi was done, and she had to wrap her hands and feet in garbage bags so she could go to sleep. All this in preparation for Day 3- The Block Party!
posted by Dan
The celebration began in the evening with the arrival of two gentleman who sat inside and immediately went to work mixing a thick, brown, pudding-like concoction in two steel buckets. The women all gathered in the main room of the bride's parents house (whom we've had the pleasure of staying with for the past 2 weeks) and chairs were brought in from all over the house and yard to accommodate all the bodies. Having completed the brewing of the brown paste (Mehndi, or Henna), the young men scooped it into plastic cones (think of decorating a cake with frosting) and asked for the first woman to step forward.
Elise was unanimously volunteered to go first. With a nervous smile to me she sat in the chair between the two and placed her arms face-up on their knees. Each took a mehndi-filled cone and went to work. The speed at which art formed on her hands was amazing - these two were definitely well-practised and skilled in their art! They started at her wrists and within 10 minutes had covered 95% of the skin on her palms to her finger-tips in intricate designs of thick brown goo. They turned her hands over and drew larger, more deliberate designs on the backs of her hands, and a total of 20 minutes later, she was done.
This process was repeated over and over with all the women involved in the wedding, from immediate family, to aunts, cousins, grandmothers, and any other ladies who happened to be around who wanted some henna done. It was shortly after Elise finished that I asked her how long it would take to dry. As it turns out, the process had only just begun. She was instructed to sit with her hands in the air, and informed that she would be in this posture for 2 hours. The look of panic and disapointment on her face was evident as some of the men called me to drink with them on the roof, and being a good husband, I gave her a reassuring kiss on the forehead before abandoning her for the Shirab (whisky).
The finer details of the next four hours can be found in a previous blog post, Once Upon a Toilet but one thing that was omitted from that humorous tale was my own Mehndi tattoo. Feeling a little bad that I left Elise to go drink and party with the men, and that she had to swallow her pride and have me take care of her every need, I obliged to getting a tattoo of my own done.
Elise's experience was nothing compared to the bride's, however. She was the last to get her artwork done, it started close to her elbows and went all the way to her fingertips, and then she had her feet and ankles done as well. It was close to midnight by the time her mehndi was done, and she had to wrap her hands and feet in garbage bags so she could go to sleep. All this in preparation for Day 3- The Block Party!
posted by Dan
i love your tattoo, dan! you're a good man!! hahahahaha
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in Hong Kong for my brother's wedding i saw some unbelievable henna done on his wife's (and others) hands. They also worked lightning fast.
ReplyDelete