Mehendi – that rich, maroonish tattoo we have come to associate with weddings and other occasions – has a fascinating story.
From being flaunted by Indian, Arab, and Jewish brides, to being used by some Kurds on the corpses of the young, mehendi has different connotations in different cultures.
Aside from weddings, henna is also applied on pregnant women in India and Morocco in their eighth month of pregnancy to protect the expectant mother and the child from the ‘evil eye’.
Sometimes, henna is used to confuse evil spirits. In Jewish weddings, aside from the night of the henna, there’s also a false night of the henna to confuse evil spirits into thinking that’s the real night!
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