Moroccan Jewish Henna

After sunset on the final day of passover families hold mimouna parties where cookies pastry dried food and moroccan tea are served marking the renewal of spring.

Moroccan jewish henna. Mizrahi jews from the middle east and north africa have practiced pre wedding henna ceremonies for generations. The moroccan henna party is one of the most significant and memorable of the moroccan jewish wedding traditions. Births birthdays bar mitzvahs holidays and most lastingly as a rite of passage ceremony for jewish sephardic weddings.

The mashta was already established as a respected female profession in the middle ages for both jews and muslims see e g shatzmiller 1994 pp. A gift exchange later takes place whereby the mothers of the couple give a piece of jewellery to their future son and daughter in law. The ashkenazim immediately before the wedding ceremony perform the ritual of bedeken in which the groom places the veil on the bride to recall the story of our patriarch jacob who did not realize that he was married to leah and not rachel until it was too late.

The tradition is a symbolic way to shower the bride and groom with what they hope. 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. The mizrachi jews of morocco algeria yemen persia iraq as well as other countries absorbed and adapted the use of henna as did their muslim sikh hindu and zoroastrian neighbors.

Yes indeed dear readers jews from places like north africa morocco yemen and even iran do have the tradition of a henna ceremony sometime before the wedding. Notable jewish henna party and entertainment ideas for your guests. At a moroccan israeli henna someone who has had good luck in their marriage and good health will be chosen to apply the henna paste onto the hands of the bride and groom then the family and guests.

טקס החינה של מיה ורועי maya roi moroccan jewish henna 3 duration. Perhaps the most interesting moroccan wedding custom also done by many other non ashkenazic jews is a henna party done in lieu of the bedeken. Photo by jean besancenot.

The main difference between the jewish henna ceremony and the henna ceremonies i ve seen from india is that the jewish ceremony does not involve drawing designs rather a large round mark is made on the hand with the henna and there are even little round badges with ribbons that are used to tie the henna to the palm as it must be. The mashta or masta derived from the formal arabic mashiṭa hairdresser was the woman who was responsible for the bride s adornments including her hair her cosmetics her jewelry and of course her henna.