Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Henna designs
One of the most striking and well know parts of Indian culture is the henna designs inked most notably on the hands of brides. This ancient practice of temporarily tattooing designs has been around for centuries. One of the oldest practices is known as rangoli, a strictly female form of decoration. The art first evolved as a floor decoration in the home temples, where the women of the family would go to reflect and meditate on their lives. This role of decorator mostly fell to the elderly women of the villages who no longer had children and homes to keep up, and so the practice of rangoli soon became associated with the wise women of the area. In rangoli the area to be painted is filled with infinitesimally large geometric patterns sometimes with influences ranging from animals and gods, to the large mango leaf patterns which decorate paisley ties today. Over time the same good luck symbols painted on the floors began to appear on the body, used as decorations for festivals such as Diwali, portents of good fortune in the coming year.
Over the centuries Rangoli has evolved for use in many important rituals. Before a wedding a bride is painted with elaborate designs to bring good luck, and happy life and marriage, and of course children. During the eight month of pregnancy the expectant mother's belly is painted with designs to celebrate the child. This ancient practice is one of the most well known today, prevalent in Bollywood movies and in art and design, the ancient practice of henna designs is one of the first things to come to mind when thinking about Indian art.
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This is amazing! I really enjoyed reading about how the henna designs were used for women to celebrate marriage and birth. It was really interesting that they would go all out and that the designs each had a different meaning.
ReplyDeleteIndia Group, your website is amazing! I had no idea that Henna was first a floor decoration - and now it's an elaborate, stunning body adornment! Henna is also used in Middle Eastern cultures, so it's really cool that Henna is deeply rooted in ancient India's traditions as well. It's so fun that a pregnant lady's stomach can be painted with designs to celebrate the child - I'm kind of mesmerized by that!
ReplyDeleteIt's also fascinating that the world's first university, the concept of zero, beautiful styles of dance, and our number system all originated in ancient India. They deserve a lot more credit than what we read about in our textbook.
to start off- I LOVE YOUR WEBSITE! it looks so modern and cool! now to the information, great job! being indian, with my little indian history knowledge, i learned a lot more about my own culture and homeland! i really like your deep history of the rangoli and henna designs, i never saw the connection between the two myself! you should look into the architecture and the influence of the mughal and british empires on india, it is a fascinating topic!
ReplyDeleteGreat job on this website! We learn a lot about the Indian culture during history classes but you guys managed to take a different angle of this extensive culture and I love that. I had always known about Henna but I never knew that it was used first as a floor decoration and now has evolved to something a bride does before her wedding and also the celebration of the birth of a child. Wonderful job!
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