I haven’t blogged for a while and began to feel the urge to blog today. I decided that I could blog about anything really – so here I am blogging about Mehndi. In my colouring book , “The Colours of Nature,” there was a page with intricate patterns on a hand. You can see the hand in the above collage and the colours that I used. When I was in India several years ago, I fondly remember having henna body art done on the palms of my hands. This was done by two young boys sitting on boxes under a tree. It was evening and the light in which they did this work was not very good. They were good artists though and it was very cheap. The art of applying henna to the hands and feet is known as Mehndi, and is traditionally used for celebrations and rites of passage. Every culture and region of the world uses henna tattoos in its own unique way. For Hindu weddings, henna is painted on the bride to symbolize joy, beauty, spiritual awakening and offering, while Moroccans often paint doors with henna to bring prosperity and chase away evil. Depending on where you get henna tattoos, they will look different. Indian tattoos feature fine lines and floral patterns, while Arabic henna designs tend to be larger in scale and African henna patterns are more bold and geometric. (huffingtonpost.com)
I’m very surprised that there are so many colouring books with Mehndi designs. It must be because one’s imagination can run riot where colours are concerned. On Amazon, there are at least eight colouring books alone with Mehndi deigns. There are titles there such as: Mehndi, Coloring for Everyone; Mehndi, Coloring for Artists; and the Creative Haven Magical Mehndi Designs Coloring Book. It was lots of fun colouring this hand. The real henna for body art is orange when it is first applied and then turns reddish-brown after a few days. In real life, no henna body art would look like the above.
What’s really nice about having henna body art or Mehndi is that it is a temporary tattoo. After a few days or weeks it fades and disappears completely. When I find the photos of my hands with henna body art, I will add them to this post so that you can see the real thing.
So long for now!
P.S. I was in Little India, Toronto, and at the beauty salon there was a bride-to-be having henna tatoos on her hands and feet for her wedding. She allowed me to take the following photos. (March/2017)
