Henna Jewish Tradition

Israel s mizrahi jews who migrated from north african and middle eastern countries perform a lavish henna ceremony before weddings to bless the future bride and groom.

Henna jewish tradition. Of all the jewish sephardic wedding traditions the unanimous crowd favorite is the jewish henna wedding ceremony. Second the materiality of henna was thought as protective especially of actors at the center of a passage ritual. Embracing a jewish henna wedding tradition this custom is a treasured part of moroccan jewish and other mizrahi marriage celebrations.

The fashion of bridal mehndi in north indian bangladesh northern libya and in pakistan is currently growing in complexity and elaboration with new. Births birthdays bar mitzvahs holidays and most lastingly as a rite of passage ceremony for jewish sephardic weddings. The first henna was on a thursday night and the second was at the close of the sabbath.

Today henna celebrations often are held a few days before. It is colorful spirited and highlights the bride and the groom s reverence to their heritage and their anticipation for a happy future. The immersion of the bride in the mikveh before her wedding referred to as the night of the bath turns into a party filled with song dancing and specially prepared sweets for all her female family and friends who accompany her instead of the more sober and private experience of the ashkenazi bride.

By natasha cooper benisty october 7 2015 my jewish learning is a not for profit and relies on your help. People believed that malevolent spirits the evil eye would come to a wedding and bring bad luck infertility and misery to the marriage. The tradition is a symbolic way to shower the bride and groom with what they hope will be many years of protection health and fertility.

The symbolism of henna in these jewish communities was highly polysemous but it is clear that it had three overarching functions. The jewish henna tradition in morocco henna ceremonies were also an important part of the ritual life of the community among the moroccan jews. Third henna was seen as an aid in transforming and guiding the actors into the structure of their new social roles.

As with many other jewish communities in the diaspora also henna was used for transition rites and life cycle ceremonies. Indian wedding tradition calls for a mehndi ceremony to be held the night before the wedding as a way of wishing the bride good health and prosperity as she makes her journey on to marriage. Some bridal traditions were very complex such as those in yemen where the jewish bridal henna process took four or five days to complete with multiple applications and resist work.