![](../../icons/shim.gif) |
A way of expressing hopes and fears
[ Follow-ups ] [ Post Follow-up ] [ The Henna Page Discussion Forum ] [ FAQ ]
Posted by Catherine Cartwright Jones on September 07, 1999 at 03:51:56:
In Reply to: Re: Indian scarves. posted by Amy C on September 07, 1999 at 02:39:48:
There are a number of groups that use textiles to create sacred spaces.... (think "chuppa" the Jewish wedding thingie). Textiles can be are used to create a space apart from, or more special than the usual household space, to avert evil, to invoke benevolant spirits or ancestors. All that closely parallels henna, and the patterns are frequently synchronous. It's all women's household magic....women using exactly what women have at hand. When women are excluded from participation in the main religion (can't be priests, rabbis, imams, mullahs...whatever) women tend to develop things of their own to extablish some sense of power over their own lives and address their own needs, plead to the deities their own grievances....they do little things to insure fertility, the health of their children, their economic security, their marital security.....they henna, they embroider, they weave, they make mandanas, they maintain houwehold altars, they participate in Zars, they wear talismanic jewelery....a thousand things....to feel more in charge of their own destiny. The lady may also just have wanted something lovely and cheerful for comfort while laboring. Joy dispells demons!
Follow-ups:
|