Depending on the country, henna customs vary wildly. Here is the first in an occasional series on henna rituals and customs, as practiced in India, Africa and throughout the Middle East. Pregnant Moroccan women in their seventh month seek out well-respected henna practitioners called hannayas in order to have certain symbols painted on their ankle, …
Carine Fabius introduced henna tattoos to the west coast in 1997 with the first henna studio in the United States. Her popular book, Mehndi, the art of henna body painting, was the first book published on the subject in the U.S. (Random House). In 1998 she created the ever-popular Earth Henna body painting kits with her partner Pascal Giacomini. She is also an art dealer, freelance museum curator, the author of five books, and a regular blogger on Huffington Post.
Here are three more rituals and magical beliefs related to the jagua fruit, as practiced by two different Indigenous groups in the Amazon. To Exorcise Devils A Kuna exorcist and his assistant employ the equivalent of a magic wand, or spiritually powerful cane, made from the wood of the jagua tree in rituals to rid …
After all these years, henna insists on retaining some of her mystery. By now even though I think I know everything there is to know about henna, I can still come away scratching my head. And that’s especially true when it comes to getting good color. Everyone knows that, no matter what secret favorite ingredient …
It was my first time meeting the family of farmers who harvest the henna found in our Earth Henna kits. You have likely not experienced “desert dry” until you’ve been to the outer reaches of the Sahara, aka The Great Desert. A hot wind was blowing like crazy, making it nearly impossible to see, bringing …
In my continuing efforts to bring you magical information, mythologies and beliefs surrounding the jagua fruit, here are another couple of excerpts from my book, Jagua, A Journey into Body Art from the Amazon! Protection from Bad Spirits The Ecuadorian Tsachila people and the Arakmbut Indians of the Madre de Dios region of the Peruvian …
Someone sent me a link to Bored Panda magazine’s piece on women with cancer and alopecia who get gorgeous henna crowns painted on their heads after hair loss. We’ve known about this trend for years since a company called Chemo Chicks has been selling our henna tattoo kits for a long, long time! These new …
Happened onto dessert girl’s blog, where she highlighted these gorgeous cakes, decorated with henna-themed designs by Aura Anglesey. Of course, I couldn’t resist investigating further. Sure enough, a quick Google search for images of “henna cakes” yielded a veritable visual feast! That must be why we always tell people that drawing with henna is like …
When I first heard about the jagua fruit, as used by the indigenous people of the Amazon jungle, I immediately assumed it would be associated with magical and mystical beliefs. After all, smearing the juice on the body turns it black! I went looking for information and figured out very quickly that I was not …
There are as many traditional henna paste recipes as cake recipes. And people from differing henna cultures often have a special ingredient, which makes their recipe “the best.” These ingredients have always varied from country to country and from family to family, and they’ve often been closely guarded secrets. Well, with the internet secrets no …
I’ve decided that what I like most about henna is how it makes me feel. I think it’s fairly safe to say that human beings love to adorn their bodies. Whether it’s with jewelry or make-up, tattoos and piercings, face-painting and air-brushing, scarification, or coloring our hair pink, blue or green, the people on this …