Mehndi

TRAVEL REPORT:

Indian weddings are incomplete without a Mehndi ceremony, where henna is applied to the bride’s hands and feet. The henna dries like dark brown puffy paint, then crumbles off, leaving red lines that turn brown overnight. According to popular belief, the darker the color of the Mehndi, the more the bride’s husband will love her and the more she will get along with her mother-in-law. During the drying process the bride is incapacitated, since she can neither walk nor use her hands; tradition dictates that relations must wait on her hand and foot (literally!)–my husband’s cousin fed me a mojito through a straw. My pre-wedding Mehndi/party was hosted by three of my husband’s friends at a friend of friend’s house in New Delhi on the 26th of December, the day before our Sikh wedding ceremony at the Vasant Vihar gurdwara.