Despite the
presence of many religions and their custom one common ritual that is
celebrated in all the religions is the ceremony of Mehandi. Mehandi ceremony is
celebrated a day prior to the wedding where every female in the wedding applies
Mehandi which is considered as auspicious and enhances the celebration mood.
Professional Mehandi artists are called to apply Mehandi on bride’s hands and
feet which add more beauty to her and make her look different from other
females.
Mehandi symbolizes
a sign of fertility in many cultures but generally, Mehandi symbolizes the love
and affection of a husband for his wife. The darker the color of Mehandi, more
deep is the love of the husband and her mother-in-law. This is the reason that
it is applied almost on all the important occasions like Indian marriages, karva chaut, rakhi, teej and Diwali etc. Today, Mehandi
ceremony has become a grand affair and is celebrated along with sangeet where
some are dancing and singing on Dholak, these days DJ system have also become
very popular and some are some are sitting and are applied Mehandi on their
hands.
Mehandi has
become an ornament for the bride which is applied beautifully and with many
designs such as flower designs, influences from Indian architecture, Arabic,
Rajasthani and many women also inscribe their husband’s name in the Mehandi and
later tell their husbands to find their name. These days Mehandi has also
become a fashion statement and many unmarried young girls apply Mehandi on
their arms, stomach, ankle and on the back when wearing deep blouses. Mehandi
has no side-effects and in some places it is considered as ayurvedic medicine
for hair. It is made of henna and water and some people also mix water of tea
leaves into this mixture to get a darker color once the Mehandi is removed.
Like other
rituals in a marriage like engagement, rokna, haldi ceremony and so on where
the bride is dressed beautifully, on Mehandi ceremony a bride generally wears
yellow or orange color outfit as these colors are colors of emanate positive
energy and is thus, considered to be auspicious. It is a family affair where
only close relatives are invited and give blessings to the bride and apply
henna on their hands as well. It is a saying that a bride does not do any household
work unless her Mehandi is entirely removed from her hands. It is also a saying
that the longer it stays, the more love she receives from her husband and
in-laws.
Thus, we can say
that the idea of Mehandi comes naturally to Indians, though internationally it
has become a fashion statement, but with Indians it holds a special place in
its customs and this trend is increasing and being adopted by other cultures as
well.
Gurleen Kaur writes on behalf of
Jeevansathi.com, which is India’s fastest growing matrimonial website providing
online Indian
matrimonial classified service. Jeevansathi.com enables users to create and
search corresponding matches for their respective profiles like Hindu matrimony,
Muslim
matrimony wherein users can avail free registration and make initial
contact with each other through services available on Jeevansathi.com via Chat,
SMS, and e-mail.