Wedding Pictures

From Ruchi's wedding on 23rd jan. In relation to this post:

Mehendi (henna) getting applied on my hands at Ruchi's place, Sunday, Jan 22, 2006. I love peacocks!!! The empty space on my fingertips will be coloured in!

My mehendi colour didn't come out that dark!!! Despite my leaving it on for hours and putting my hands on the gas. That probably means 'my husband doesn't love me'!!!! Haha I can't believe that when we were younger we used to say this ridiculous thing to each other! That if someone's mehendi came dark "Oh, your husband will love you very much!" The colour of mehendi, as you probably know, gets dark in direct proportion to the amount of 'body heat' one has, a concept that is probably not as well-known in the west as it is in the East. Mine always used to come orange until I started warming my hands on the gas and applying Vicks on them and all that. For the colour only really "chadhos" or shows u the next day, due to all the heat that gets retained in the body during sleep. So basically, a bride's hand being really dark on her wedding day means she has a lot of 'heat' and hence is really excited about her wedding night, or, in other words, horny as hell!

I suppose I always wash my hands too soon because I can't STAND them being dirty. Kinda OCD about that! But i put so much Monisons balm on them to preserve the heat! It's a very strange sensation, feeling your hands become cold from a layer under and above the skin, like all these heat balms do - Tigerbalm, Deep Heat, Vicks, etc. Maybe I just don't have enough body heat :( In the US and UK my hands and feet would always be freezing even if the rest of me was relatively comfortable. So poor circulation must be the answer.

OK I sent a Chinese friend (from Sichuan province) the above picture of my mehendi and she said that she used to apply it to paint her fingernails red as a little girl. Her reason was that since little girls had no money to spend, this was a fun way of pretending one was grown up. She sent me pictures of the henna plant they use.

Thats Chinese henna on the left, Indian on the right.

This is a Japanese painting of henna. Pretty no? I love the lines and foggy greyness. East Asians are so good at depicting 'atmosphere' or air.

It looks a bit different no?

Henna's (Arab name) Latin botanical name is Lawsonia Inermis Lythraceae. It originated in Egypt apparently, where mummies over 5000 years old were found to have traces of it in their fingernails. It's used to colour and condition hair, as medicine, to ward off the evil eye and for celebrations. It also consists of one of the herbs in the 'solah shringar' (16 forms of beautification) for the Indian bride. It apparently spread to India over 2000 years ago from Arabia, which got it from Africa. Probably trade and conquest. It's also known as Al-Khana, Al-Henna, Jamaica Mignonette, or Egyptian Privet etc.

The leaves are freshdried and then powdered and mixed with vegetable oil or tea to make a paste. Apparently it is better if the perosn it is being applied on is hairless and exfoliated for the colour to show up best. It's best applied on hands and feet as they have many nerves and henna stimulates the points and also serves to moisturise chapped skin.

Got most of the above info from here. If you want to know more about its medicinal properties...

I can't believe it's been 2.5 weeks only!!!