The Art and Beauty of Henna on Brides

The popularity of henna has reached the Western world. Cool to sport at events and festivals as an alternative to getting permanent tattoos, however henna is steeped in tradition. It is not just an aesthetically pleasing design, it plays a huge role in South Asian weddings. Henna, as a pre-wedding ceremonial ritual, carries the tradition of various cultures, brings different families together and contains a little game of hide and seek.

“It’s part of our culture,” said Amreen Kadwa, who co-owns a henna business in Toronto with her twin sister, Farheen, called the ‘Kadwa Twins’. The 22-year-old sisters started the business in January 2015, and have been doing henna for eight years now. “My mom did henna and we would put henna on all the time for holidays and family gatherings. So, it was ingrained in our culture,” Amreen said.

Henna is not only used on the skin, but also on fingernails, fabrics and hair. It is a type of dye gotten from a plant called Lawsonia inermis, otherwise known as the henna tree. The tree leaves are dried, crushed, grinded and then sifted to make a dry powder.

“Henna powder, in its natural form, should have been triple sifted or more, in a cloth. The powder is extremely fine, like the consistency of a loose mineral powder,” said Hamnah Nabeel. The powder, later mixed with water, lemon juice, sugar and essential oils, is the key ingredient to create the paste of which henna artists use to make their designs. Nabeel, 28, is a henna artist that believes there shouldn’t be any more ingredients other than that.

The henna paste, is then applied on a bride’s arm and feet before the wedding day. Depending on each bride’s desire, the designs can go from the elbow to fingers, and knees to toes. It is custom for a bride to hide her husband’s name in their design. “I did it for my sister. I’ve done it for tons of brides. And sometimes it’s not just brides. Some getting their hennas done for fun ask to hide their husband’s or boyfriend’s or fiancé’s name. I’ll do it. It’s a cute concept,” she said. “And sometimes they get the fiancé to put the girls name on them, but that’s more like a joke kind of thing.”

Nabeel said she started learning henna by practicing on her herself, family members, neighbours and friends. “I would look at designs that other artists were working on, watch videos and just practice,” she said.

Very similarly, the Kadwa twins also practiced on family and friends. They also often used their henna to raise funds for a club at school when they were 14 years old. The sisters say they’ve always been in love with art and the thought of creating things and that they were instantly interested in henna. Farheen says henna gives them an opportunity to express their creativity because there is no restriction. “There aren’t any bounds to what you can do (with henna) and it is just art, but a different kind of medium,” she said.

The twins believe that by doing henna they are also playing a role in passing on their culture in a Canadian community. “It is a way for our culture to live on, as we grow older in Canada and Toronto,” Amreen said.

Although Nabeel also believes henna is a part of her culture, she doesn’t consider henna to be founded by South Asians. “It is really cool to see that something that was in this one culture is now everywhere. It didn’t originate in South Asia. It didn’t originate in India, Pakistan or even the Middle East. There is no known origin. People have used henna since ancient times. It has travelled to Southern Europe, China, Africa, Middle East and South Asia,” Nabeel said.

She understands the media’s influence especially Bollywood, but ultimately believes that “not any one culture can have any ownership on it”. “I think (we) South Asians kind of stake a claim to it (henna) but we can’t. You can have ownership on the style of art, but not with henna,” she said.

Interestingly, there are the differences between henna designs and styles. “Indian designs tend to be very fine and intricate while Pakistani styles are even more intricate. With Indian designs, you will see peacocks, gods and goddesses, lotus flowers; very religious symbols. Whereas in Pakistan, you don’t see symbolism like that anymore. You will see floral, shapes, and even geometric stuff. But you won’t see depictions of anything. It is just abstract and floral,” Nabeel said.

The twins say henna bridal designs depend on what the bride wants. They consult with her and discuss what patterns she would like, and then during the process one of them do the hands, while the other does the feet. Bridal hennas typically take five to six hours to finish.

“I think bridal henna is different from regular henna and in the way it is put on,” Said Farheen. “It is intricate and has repeating designs. Most of the times brides want full hands done and not a lot of white space. When you put on party henna or just random designs, it is the design left on with a lot of white space. But for bridal design you find designs that fill up the space. Repeating design and big flowers, big portions. It’s like a reflection of our art and we create what the bride wants or envisions,” she said.

After the henna, the twins will inform their client to abstain from washing dishes or bleach. “Because it won’t help the colour to develop. It takes about a day and a half to develop the colour to its fullest. And by the third day it is like a dark wine colour,” Farheen said.

There have been modern twists to henna over the years as artists add glitters, crystals and gems to their designs. Recently, white henna has become a trend. White henna, isn’t henna though. It is body paint incorporating henna designs. “White henna is really cool and it’s just body paint. It doesn’t last as long as henna, same thing with glitter, but as long as it’s cosmetic grade, it is okay to use on the body. Go for it! It is really cool,” Nabeel said.

Although the twins are not engaged, they both said that they would want to do each other’s henna on their big day.

“I’ll probably do henna on her when she gets married,” Amreen said.

“Yeah same,” Farheen replies.

Photographed by Fatima Texiwala.