Re: Why is it that henna not prescribed for men?
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Posted by Catherine Cartwright Jones on May 11, 2000 at 16:46:09:
In Reply to: Re: Why is it that henna not prescribed for men? posted by Babaganooj on May 11, 2000 at 16:02:20:
The Arab and Palestinian people I henna for here, for the most part, are very conservative. They, also, are uncomfortable with gold, as they feel that it is something of an expression of greed, and silver is not so much so. One Palestinian groom here, was really looking forward to his wedding henna (I henna their family fairly often for weddings). Part of the reason he wanted to henna was that he always felt under pressure to "be one of the guys" who all accumulate manly tattoos here in Akron, Ohio, USA. As a devout Muslim, he could not tattoo, but as an American, he felt like he just didn't fit in without them .... so his wedding henna imitated American eagle and snake sorts of tattoos. People under pressure from two different cultures often have a tough time of it. The Yemeni family women here elbowed their curious son away from my henna table with torrents of abuse! The adult men stayed a comfortable 50 feet away. The Lebanese men here pretend to know nothing of such women's foolishness and barely admit that henna extists in their grocery stores. Every so often a Saudi fellow shows up at a university henna party here ..... it's almost funny how he will behave in his most carefully practiced American party manners, with his beer and cigarettes, until he sees the henna, and then the Arab personna reappears suddenly! You can almost hear the skidmarks as he hits the brakes! Incidentally ..... the earliest mention of women using henna for celebration, valour and sexuality in a written document is from Syria, 3rd millinium, BCE .... From archaeological evidence that I can find, Syria or somewhere nearby is probably the first place on earth that women used henna spepcifically to celebrate the joyous events in their lives. (Very possibly as early as 9000 BCE)
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