India: Mehendi Ceremony

It was around 8 pm when we finally got settled into our rooms, changed our clothes and went downstairs for dinner. Kids were super excited to be staying at such a fancy place!

Downstairs, we were joined by the rest of our family and friends and we all decided that Chinese was the better option for that night. We were not super hungry, so it just didn’t make sense to go to the buffet. Our order took forever…probably because we were a big group. Some of us got antsy.

After dinner we went upstairs to one of the banquet rooms where my sister was having her henna drawings done.

This is called Mehendi Ceremony, done on the eve of the wedding or a couple of days before. In short, it’s a celebration of the bride, namely her turning from a girl into a women. We had two professional mehendi artists do these intricate henna drawings on my sister’s arms and legs.

Somewhere within this intricate pattern, her fiancée's initials or name is found. I read somewhere that the groom has to find out his name in his’' bride’s mehendi to show that he has sharp eyes and active brain to impress his girl.

These artists were fast! Whoever wanted to get a design done, could do so as well.

This is my sister’s mother-in-law, Pradnya. She, her daughter and her friend all had nice designs done on their arms.

Katya and Alex also wanted to have henna drawings, so we asked if it was possible. They had time for quick and simple ones, so that’s what they got.

Katya’s design.

And Alex’s design. He wanted his to be on his arm. No, a snake design was not available.

I also decided I had to get one (although it was already after midnight by then…).

After you got the drawing, you had to sit, not touching any part of your decorated hand for at least 30 minutes. Then henna “mud” would dry out and you can scrape it off with a dull knife or something, so that only a reddish/brownish design is left. By the time mine dried out it was so late that all I wanted was get to bed (after all, this was still the day we flew in, jet lagged and all), so I failed to take any pictures of the finished product. I think my sister had to stay up till at least 2 am to make sure her arms and legs were dry. 

I thought it was so cool that we were able to witness this pre-wedding tradition in person! Something I might never see again (well, at least not until my sister’s kids’ weddings, right? haha).

Okay. We all had to catch up on some sleep, as we had some touristy plans for the day.

Lyana.