Madonna, Sting, and Demi Moore have recently “discovered” what Hindu brides have known for centuries: henna paste decorates the body with temporary tattoos. Usually applied to the hands and feet, the body becomes a canvas for patterns of scrolls, vines, or flowers that last for a few weeks.

Henna paste, or mendhi, takes from a few minutes to a few hours to apply depending upon the bodily location and the desired detail of the design. After the drawing with cones or syringes is finished, the paste dries to allow the color to become absorbed by the skin. While this takes only 10-15 minutes, the paste should be left on the skin for another 6 hours to achieve the most lasting affect. A sugar and lemon mixture dabbed on the dried mendhi deepens the final color. When fully dry, the crust falls off on its own. Gentle toweling removes any last bits. The tattoo lasts longer with moisture but gradually lightens through natural exfoliation of the skin. Harsh soaps, chlorine and commercial exfoliation speeds the fading of the design.

Celebrations, such as childbirth and birthdays, may include mehndi, but it is Indian brides who traditionally display the most elaborate designs covering their feet and hands. Applying the paste is a celebratory pre-wedding ritual to bring love and good fortune to the couple but it has neither religious nor sacred meaning. Occasionally brides choose to mendhi much of their body and include the name of their groom amongst the designs. It is his right and duty to carefully search for it on the wedding night.
In the Middle East, mendhi days are spent getting to know women of the family as the designs are applied. Females gather to adorn skin with the more casual floral patterns inspired by Arabic art. It is a woman’s day to put away household responsibilities and share a joyful activity with others of her gender.

Leaves are ground into a paste and may be mixed with other ingredients such as oil or tea. The resulting mash remains dark green or black even though the stain is consistently reddish brown. Recipes for henna mixtures are well-guarded family secrets for good reasons. Women want their family members to have a deep, rich tattoo as tradition proclaims the bride doesn’t do housework as long as her design can be seen. In addition, how much your mother-in-law will love you correlates with the length of time the mendhi remains.

The paste that has adorned so many women comes from Lawsonia inermis, a small tree that grows in areas where the minimum temperature is usually greater than 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Lawsonia inermis is a thorny tree that needs about five years to mature and produce leaves with useful levels of tannin. It grows better in arid than in wet regions and tolerates extreme heat and long droughts. Its origins as a tattoo paste can be traced to areas of Northern Africa, the Middle East and India. Blossoms of the same tree have been used in perfumes since 1500 BCE.

The use of this abundant plant began in earnest when the desert people of India discovered its “cooling” properties. By dipping their hands and feet into the mud or paste made from the crushed leaves, they were able to keep their body temperatures low as long as some color remained. In the arid heat of their desert environment, this was indeed a fortuitous discovery!

From this general application came more specific ones. Women found that a large central dot in the palm cooled as well as staining the entire hand or foot. This rudimentary design was embellished with dots around the center which evolved into the use of increasingly pleasing designs.

In addition to being used to apply temporary tattoos, henna has been used to color wool, silk, animal skins and men’s beards. Mummies dating to 1200 B.C. show evidence of henna use on hair and nails of pharaohs. Today the deep-colored paste is used by women to give luster to their hair as well as hide the grey.

When an Indian woman asks her husband if he has mendhi on his hands, it doesn’t mean she really thinks he is decorated with reddish-brown body art below his wrists. She is referring to her bridal days when she wasn’t expected to work while the mendhi could still be seen and is asking if this is also HIS reason for laziness.

Sandra Wilson is an author, teacher and international lecturer. While teaching in India she made several trips to the Taj Mahal, the focus of her historical novel, TAJ. For more information, visit her website at http://www.taj-womanandwonder.com

Share This

Our webmaster wants articles on tattoos. Here is his request to help fill a great void: Tattoos - Articles about tattoos, tattoo removal, and body art as it relates to tattoos and tattoo history. See, he does look after you.

When sailors came home from World War II many had tattoos. Usually they were acquired in San Diego. They liked to show them to us teenagers and hide then from adults.

I don’t have a tattoo. I was raised in Tattoo Tabooville, Utah. One mustn’t deface the Temple of God.

Well, let’s face the truth here. Getting a tattoo is not painless and I’m a coward when it comes to pain. I’m not self-conscious about this. My wife says that all men are cowards when it comes to pain. She says this whenever she cuts my hair. (She uses the clip and jerk method.)

I would not be accepted in parts of society because I don’t have a tattoo. This is called peer pressure. I wouldn’t be accepted anyway because they don’t accept bearded old geezers either. Anyway, I understand why teenagers get tattooed.

I like to look at tattoos as an art form. Not all tattoos; the ones done in Japan and by certain “true” artist in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and of course, San Diego..

Last night, my wife and I were watching Fear Factor. One rudely-treated contestant had a new tattoo that said “Fear Factor.” It was very decorative and covered his forearm.

He pooped out on the first daredevil task which was swinging on a rope from one elevated platform to another and then to another. He was left hanging dry between the first two platforms and didn’t have a clue as to how to get out of his predicament. He was booed away by the Los Vegas crowd.

That brings us to the first consideration on whether you should have or not have a tattoo: Tattoos may bring you bad luck and undesirable publicity.

He was just a clueless kid with an arrogant attitude, piercings, and tattoos. That is why he was booed. His failure was disheartening to him, more than I suspected it would be, but he promised to become arrogant again “tomorrow.”

So today, I guess he is back to normal.

I was giving some counseling to a youth in detention years back. His mother had asked me to look after him. (I’m not talking about school detention here. This was what we use to call “Reform School.”)

The boy was having his tattoos removed.

That brings the second consequence of having tattoos. It hurts like hell to have them removed by a medical professional.

Having the tattoos removed helped this boy get out of the “joint” and back to his single mother.

If you’ve got ‘em, you’d better keep ‘em. Is that a motto for you tattoo guys and gals? It could be if you want to avoid removal pain.

The reason that some people would like to have a tattoo removed is this. They sometimes change with time.

Joe Fleet got a tattoo of a dinghy on his chest when he was 19 years old serving in the United States Navy. He got his tattoo in San Diego, “Tattoo Heaven.”

On the side of the dinghy it read, “Mary,” in tiny letters.

Now Joe Fleet is 76 years old and weighs 240 pounds. What was a dinghy is now an aircraft carrier and the little word, “Mary,” now looks like a billboard spread.

Joe’s wife’s name is Joan.

Now Joe Fleet is not going to have this tattoo removed. The chest is a tender spot. That brings us to another facet of tattoos: Sometimes you just have to live with them.

Joe finally got around part of his problem by getting a puppy. He said to his wife, Joan, “I’m going to call her “Mary” after my childhood puppy dog that fell out of my little boat and died by drowning in the irrigation ditch.”

Joe’s wife, Joan, forgetting that puppies can doggy paddle, felt awful that she had been badgering Joe about “Mary” for 55 years. She begged Joe for his forgiveness.

This technique used by Joe, and at times by other tattoo-bearing people, is called lying.

I was on business in San Francisco back in the 1970s. I went into a theater in Chinatown. The movies were Japanese. One was about a tattoo artist covering a young woman’s body with beautiful, masterful tattoos.

She moaned with every prick of his ink needle.

I don’t know how the movie ended because my mother taught me not to stick around in any movie that is “not of good report.” When the girl got excited, I had to leave.

Now days I see right here in Idaho a lot of what are called “Tattoo Freaks.” That means the whole body is covered with tattoos like the Japanese lass.

Of course these folks are not freaks.

I’m going to look “freak” up in the dictionary.

I’ll be right back.

Okay, I guess I was wrong.

I talk to these heavily-tattooed young folks at times. They all seem very normal to me. They just like tattoos.

I don’t hear people here in Idaho complaining about tattoos unless they are combined with piercing. Folks here complain about triple-ear piercing, nose piercing, lip piercing, navel piercing (umbilicus piercing), and tongue piercing. There may be other piercing in undisclosed locations.

Our church leader say that a single piercing in each ear is just right. That does not apply to boys. The number there is zero.

We members of our church frown on new tattoos but accept old ones; especially if you were in the Navy and stationed in San Diego.

What would tattoo artist do if tattoos went out of style? Some of these artists do piercing too. What if both procedures were no longer wanted? What would happen to these artist? (Okay, they are not all artist. Some are copyist.)

Well, they might take up Slindogging when it’s invented.

John T. Jones, Ph.D. (tjbooks@hotmail.com, a retired VP of R&D for Lenox China, is author of detective & western novels, nonfiction (business, scientific, engineering, humor), poetry, etc. Former editor of Ceramic Industry Magazine. He calls himself “Taylor Jones, the hack writer.”

More info: http://www.tjbooks.com

Business web site: http://www.dumbincome.com

Share This

The history of the Celtic peoples goes back thousands of years. The early Celts displayed their skills in complex artwork particularly metal, jewelry and weapons as they were regarded as fierce warriors by the Romans. Evidence of celtic crossses and celtic artwork can still be found all over Ireland.

Modern Celtic peoples have evolved symbols for themselves, and in the North American people of Celtic descentoften wear these symbols to show that they are of Celtic descent. The ancient Celts passed knowledge down through an oral tradition of storytelling and didn’t keep many written records, consequently, there is little evidence of their tattooing remaining even though celtic cross tattoos and celtic know tattoos are very popular designs.

Most of Celtic tattoo designs are taken from the Irish Illuminated Manuscripts ‘The Book of Kells’, on display in the library of Trinity College in Dublin, my home town. This is a much later time period than the height of Celtic tattooing. Designs from ancient stone and metal work are more likely to be from the same time period as Celtic tattooing.

Celtic knot tattoos are usually loops with no end or beginning symbolising the never ending cycle of death and rebirth. Celtic animal (zoomorphic tattoo designs) designs are similar in construction but the cords terminate in feet, heads, tails. Pure knots are usually unending, unless the end of a strand is stylized into a zoomorphic element or a spiral.

Celtic knotwork’s meaning defies literal translation and is to be found at a deeper level. The repeated crossing of the physical and the spiritual are expressed in the interlace of the knots. The never ending path of the strands may represent the permanence and the continuum of life, love and faith and for these reason celtic tattoos have become so popular.

For people who have a Celtic heritage, whether Irish, Scots or Welsh , getting a Celtic design can be a way of expressing pride in their heritage by reaffirming an affinity the indigenous artistic style of their ancestors. They are usually not easy designs to do, and it is strongly recommended to anyone contemplating getting one to make sure that the artist they are considering has experience in designing Celtic tattoos. Not all tattoo artist have the eye for detail and exacting line placement needed to draw the intricate patterns particular to Celtic art.

Tattoo Designs & Tattoo Galleries
http://www.tao-of-tattoos.com

Share This