Karvachoth

Sangie came by for henna.  Her family is from Delhi, though she's lived all her life in southern Ohio.  She's a medical student.  She went to India when she was 12 for a cousin's wedding but hasn't been back since.  I asked her what she remembered about the wedding ... she said it was noisy.   She came by the day before Divali, because she was going to a multi-cultural celebration at the university.  Sangie is intense and her hands are dry.   She said her parents were liberal and weren't pushing her to get married because she was studying to be a doctor. She says if she doesn't find a guy she likes she'll let her parents choose a husband for her.   Her friend Sonia's sister is getting the big push because she's 23, and the family thinks it's crisis time.  Every time her mother sees her she's got another "you should meet this boy", and its getting to be a source of mother/daughter conflict.  Sanjie and Sonia both say obedience to family is a big thing for them. 

The day I hennaed Sangie, she told me it was Karvachoth.  That's a North Indian holiday where the wife hennas, prays and fasts all day to secure blessings for her husband.  More info on Karvachoth is at the two links below:

http://www.bridgew.edu/DEPTS/ARTSCNCE/JIWS/June01/bookreview.pdf
http://www.cyberport.uqam.ca/english/countries/india/culture2b.htm
 

Sangie wanted paisleys, and she wanted the little flowers going up her wrists.  These are paisleys derived from Kashmiri patterns.  I worked turmeric into the patterns when I was done.  Though neither Sangie nor Sonia had ever heard of turmeric being used with henna in India, they both knew that old wedding ceremonies involved all of the family members putting turmeric on a bride.  They said it was a blessing and purification in Hindu tradition.

Turmeric staining combined with henna is an old Persian tradition: for more information on "Forough's Persian Gold" see: http://www.hennapage.com/henna/how/colors/colorsturm.html