Mehndi 101

Many of us know that Mehndi or henna, is the temporary body art derived from the henna plant. The dried leaves of the plant provide the dye which is used in the application of the henna tattoos as its known mainstream.



For us Desi's (Desi: Word derived from Sanskrit. Means "one from our country"; a national opposed to a foreign. Usually refers to people from India, Pakistan, & Bangladesh) it has another meaning altogether.

It is a connection to our culture and our rich history that all Desi's, no matter what shade of brown or what part of the Indian Subcontinent they are from, share.

The Mughals introduced the art of Mehndi in the 12th century AD as a way to decorate themselves. The tradition lives on today as women still use Mehndi to celebrate holidays such as Eid and Diwali, but Mehndi takes on a life of its own when a woman gets married.

Out of all the Desi wedding functions, the Mehndi is my favorite. Dressing up, singing, dancing, eating great food, and some friendly rambunctious competition (sometimes a little to competitive) between the bride's side and the groom's side all in one crazy night.

Bridal mehndi is the most exquisite form of mehndi art there is. A brides hands, arms, and feet are covered in the intricate design as a way of wishing the bride good luck, good fortune, and happiness in her wedded life. Oftentimes, the mehndi artist hides the groom's names within the design and the groom must find his name before he gets his prize - his wife. Supposedly, the bride is excused from performing any household chores until the mehndi fades - somebody needs to send a letter to sharpie to develop a mehndi colored pen.



Enough of the history lesson though and onto the real reason for my ramblings....the Mehndi Party itself. As I said before it's all about the singing and the dancing. Now, I can't help you with the dancing (I do not have two left feet but you might) but the singing I can lend a hand.

Unless you are from the motherland, the traditional songs that are sung at these parties are not known by heart (Give yourself a pat on the back if you can even mumble a word or two in your respective language). You probably know a line or two and probably sing the life out of those lines at the Mehndi. And you know what I mean. You will see all these older women singing at these parties and then the chorus line comes along and all of a sudden the volume of the singing increases since the chorus is what people mostly know.

Well, know you don't need to mumble the chorus alone. Impress these older women with your soon to be discovered knowledge of Mehndi songs. Every time a wedding comes along, I find myself scrambling the web to get an emergency cheat sheet of songs so I don't sound like a complete glass breaker when I go these Mehndis. Well no longer! I intend to place all the Mehndi songs - traditional and new - on this blog for your use.

For now, it will be mostly Urdu/Hindi/Punjabi songs because frankly those are the only languages I can mumble (Tutti Frutti Urjabi as I call it) and understand.

So have fun!

Mehndi ni Mehndi.