Let’s pause and contemplate that for a moment. How many of us would want to put up with the absolute hell of a wedding not just for a couple of days or a weekend, but for THREE WEEKS?? It’s no wonder that weddings used to be arranged. Lots of people would have to be dragged to that kicking and screaming, not the least of which is the father of the bride!
The day before the wedding, the women have a party to get henna tattoos. The speed with which the woman showed us how to do them was remarkable – I didn’t have time to get the video camera turned on, even. 2 minutes, tops, and she had these things done.
Henna is a leaf of some type that is dried, crushed, and then mixed with olive oil and lemon juice. It “tattoos” by staining the skin, kinda how that red popsicle goes after a 2 year old. If you leave it on several hours, the tattoo gets darker and lasts a couple of weeks. Of course, if you touch ANYTHING with the henna before it dries, it’s all over your clothes.
Anyhow, at the party, this is when the women explain the facts of life to the bride to be.
Traditionally, the groom begins at the woman’s hands and looks at her tattoos, searching for his name hidden in the pattern somewhere. One would suppose that it’s not put right there on her wrist!
One of the later shops was a Sari shop, where we were shown how a woman puts it on. It’s really quite involved and takes a certain amount of faith that it will stay put, since there are no pins or buttons or anything. It’s just wrapped and tucked.
The shop we went to was the Cottage Emporium, which offers all handmade goods and is a chain from India. We also found out that it’s the largest employer in India, creating 23 million jobs.
While the prices are probably good for the quality of merchandise offered, we didn’t know anyone who needs 7 yards of silk to wrap around them.
No comments:
Post a Comment