Introduction:
One of the most important pre-wedding ceremony is this mehandi ceremony. In this ceremony, the beautiful bride’s hands and feet are adorned with striking designs made of henna, Even groom’s hand and feet are adorned partially with henna. The entire ceremony goes in a fun filled manner with all relatives and friends at one place. Apart from being fun and a pre-wedding ritual, this mehandi ceremony have it own importance and significance.
This tradition of celebrating mehandi ceremony is an old one. Along with few states in our country India, many of our neighboring countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, etc., also do celebrate this pre-wedding ritual. According to Islamic literature, Prophet Muhammad used mehendi to dye his beard and administered its use to those who were unwell. Because of this, mehendi ceremony is an important pre-wedding ritual, observed in the Indian subcontinent and many Arabic nations. This ceremony is however an elaborate application of mehandi design on bride’s hands and feet. As for the groom, a mere token of application of henna is a mark of good omen.
According to the way in which the mehendi shows its output, there are many believes in our culture:
- The darkness of the mehendi colour on a bride’s hand represents the deep love between the would-be-couple.
- The mehendi’s colour also shows the love and understanding between the bride and her mother-in-law.
- The longer the mehendi retains its colour, the more auspicious it is for the newlyweds.
- Mehendi is also deemed to be a symbolic representation of fertility.
Mehendi represents the bond of matrimony and is therefore considered as sign of good luck. It also show is the sign of love and affection between the couple.
Keeping this traditional approach aside, there is also a medical approach which says why it is necessary to apply mehendi to bride and groom. Generally, mehendi is applied to relieve from stress and excess heat from our body. Similarly, to reduce the wedding stress on bride and groom, mehendi is adorned to them. Also to protect bride and groom from attack of any viral diseases before the wedding, mehendi is applied.
Generally, mehendi ceremony is conducted on the before day of wedding along with sangeeth, where family and friends come together and enjoy through their dances. During this mehendi ceremony, while applying henna design on bride’s hands, groom’s name or initial are hidden in the design. In the post wedding ritual, bride has to find out those hidden names. This will create intimacy to the early couple 🙂 .
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