Re: Mehndi Books
Posted by Catherine Cartwright Jones on November 20, 1999 at 02:06:46:
In Reply to: Mehndi Books posted by Cyane on November 20, 1999 at 01:49:19:
As far as I know, the only history of henna is on my hard drive being
worked into a book, but LOTS of pieces of it are in the forum. Email
me for files, and go through the archives of the forum.
I've got a lot of the material sorted for anyone who needs it.... with
a good line of artifacts and literary references placing the origin
of the bridal traditions of henna back to 7th millenium BCE in
Anatolia, charting it's spread across the Mediterranean and North
Africa, it's expansion with Islam. I believe there is a separate line
of origin in India, of henna as a cosmetic for both men and women,
flourishing during the Buddhist period. There is probably a third
line of origin, concerning henna as protection from djinn from the
upper Nile, but that one's more difficult to trace. All traditions
moved with their civilizations, merged, flourished or fell into
disuse, and recombined and reinvented traditions through the 9
traceable centuries of henna use.
Email me if you need stuff, but DO go through the Forum archives!
It's here!