short answer or long answer?
Posted by Catherine Cartwright Jones on December 14, 1999 at 18:48:13:
In Reply to: HISTORY OF HENNA posted by AJIT GONDARA on December 14, 1999 at 17:44:48:
The short answer to your question is: henna is henna. It's off
approximately the same bush and used in approximately the same way in
all of the countries where it has been used for the last 9000 years.
Red hands were first associated with fertility goddesses in Anatolia
in about 6000 BCE and henna was used brides in NW Syria by 3000 BCE.
(probably much earlier, but I can PROVE it was by that peroid.) The
emotional associations with the color and use change for every ethnic
group and century. There were probably multiple origins for henna
useage across Africa, the Middle East and South Asia in the late
bronze age, but there's little evidence to back that up. The bridal
tradition definitely comes from a specific source at a specific time
in the eastern Mediterranean.
Henna is used fresh or dried, from one century and country to the
next, and the main ingredient in the mix is henna leaves with
something sour, and either reapplications or an overnight wrap.
If you want the LONG answer, email me. It's just an outline of the
history and useage of henna, but it still prints out about 7 pages, so
is too long to post.