Re: does henna have meaning to it?

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Posted by Catherine Cartwright Jones on August 30, 1999 at 14:28:20:

In Reply to: does henna have meaning to it? posted by brenda on August 29, 1999 at 06:40:20:

For most women, in most of the four or five thousand years that henna
has been used, henna is primarilly a cosmetic, but one that is
particularly lucky, sexy and beautiful.

There are several traditions were henna had more specific attributes.
In North Africa and the Middle East, henna is regarded as having the
power to dispell the evil eye, to deter djinn...and generally having
the qualitly of "baraka", that is, blessedness. THe extent to which
each person takes that seriously differes greatly. For instance, all
of us would classify a four leaf clover as a symbol of good luck, and
would be very pleased to find one, but very few people would actually
expect to win the lottery with one in hand. Henna and its
significance is in about the same league with four-leaf clovers. It's
reputation as lucky is widespread, but not very deep.

In India and elsewhere, the patterns often have meanings, but so do
the patterns in carpets and embroidery. (And in henna, the
patterns and meanings very closely parallel those of textiles!) Every
culture has a visual language as much as a verbal language. The
patterns are most often for luck, joy, things that women find
beautiful and dear, or sexy.

I have LOTS of sheets of henna patterns...I will email you the ones
for good luck and averting evil. Anyone else? ...just email and ask.



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