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| In many traditional hennaeing
cultures, girls
were betrothed and married by the time they had their first menstrual
period.
Older unmarried girls were regarded as a threat to a family's honor,
and
an embarrassment. Arranged marriages were the norm, as "falling
in
love" is seen not only as a form of insanity, but as too frivolous a
passion
to be a basis of stable family unit. Parents arranged these
marriages,
and the children generally felt they could trust their parents to
choose
a suitable mate for them. Some groups arranged marriages
for
their children when they were quite young, even as infants or toddlers.
These marriages were for the purpose of establishing social ties, and
the
children were brought up to serve their duty to their families rather
than
their own feelings. Though many of these couples grew to love
each
other, there were tragedies. Girls, wedded when toddlers, could
find
themselves widowed at 10.
The child brides and grooms had "night of the henna" parties, with all the gowns, gifts, singing, dancing, celebration and henna, just as the adolescent and adult betrothed. The children often fell asleep through the festivities. The display of family ties and reciprocal responsibilities, the celebration of family unions was more important than the actual participation of the little spouses. Considering this, I wanted to try to do a fancy henna on a 6 year old girl, to determine the problems the henna artist would encounter with a very young bride. I mixed the paste of just lemon juice and henna from Castle Art. I kept my hand on her wrist, to keep her from moving about, and her mother told her stories. She stayed still as long as she could use her spare hand to play with a kitten. I hennaed as fast as I could, with the finest lines I could manage on her tiny hands. I got her henna done, dried, and sealed it with New Skin. She and her mother went home .... and but as her mother made dinner, the little girl forgot her promise to keep her henna nice, and got out her Play-Doh. The henna stain the next day wasn't bad, though. The Prophet Mohammed was
betrothed to
his last wife, Aisha, when she was 6 years old, the daughter of
his
trusted friend Abu Bakr. There is no mention of her requiring a kitten
to sit through her night of the henna, though it is likely that she
heard
stories. Play-Doh had not yet been invented in the 7th century,
but
she might have found something else, as she was known to be a playful
child!
The henna on this hand was done with Castle
Arts henna, mixed only with lemon juice, sealed with New Skin, left
on the hand about 2 hours before removal by Play-Doh
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