Sunday 25 October 2009

.dots.

In Turkey, we have henna nights. Henna is a symbol of celebration. Whatever we celebrate, we use henna to show people that we are celebrating something: a wedding or a circumcision ceremony. Henna is a very mysterious substance.
When you put a measure of henna on your palm, you don't know what kind of pattern or colour you'll get..It might be really disappointing, or something that you really love like a bracelet or a ring..

In Tunisia, I recognised a mysterious pattern common to henna designs, doors, chairs, and windows.. Unlike current Turkish henna styles, they have floral designs made with dots and strokes..like the designs that they put on their doors.. The way that they prepare henna is quite different than the Turkish way as well. Tunisians put lots of interesting herbs and spices into the henna mixture and keep it on a piece of burning coal until the sun reaches the same point on the next day. The result is an extremely small bottle of black henna (like eye-liner) to paint and decorate hands, feet, and bellies.. Obviously, in the Ottoman harem women drew flowers and various designs on their bodies, but obviously along with many other things, modern Turks forgot about it..

You can find different henna designs that belong to various oriental cultures at this link:
http://www.hennapage.com/henna/historical-henna/index.html

Henna is a form of art like tattooing, but more mysterious, challenging, and creative.
Picture 2: Tunisian women (they are just waxwork statues) having a henna party
Picture 3: Preparation of Tunisian henna







1 comment: