Re: Need info... plz =)
Posted by Catherine Cartwright JOnes on May 10, 2000 at 20:59:03:
In Reply to: Need info... plz =) posted by Ayla Iqbal on May 10, 2000 at 20:35:19:
Applying henna to a bride the night before the wedding (the night of
the henna) predates Islam by about 7000 years. Originally, applying
henna to a bride was part of a belief system surrounding fertility
goddesses in the eastern Mediterranean and Arab worlds. The henna
beautified, protected the bride from jealous spirits, and protected
the man from the dangerous powers of virginal blood. When the old
religions passed on, the sense that henna was very good luck, and
tended to avert evil stayed, but there was no longer a specific
deity(s) being called upon.
Most Muslim women I ask today about their henna just say it's pretty,
it's traditional, and maybe they say it's lucky ..... The
old traditions hung on until the 19th century in rural areas, but
they've largely been abandoned since.
