In Gujarat, mehendi tattooing is part of the Adivasi women’s wedding traditions. Leaves and flowers are used as templates around which complex designs are painted on the bride’s face and arms.

Sacred Mehendi Blessings

The mehendi ceremony is considered so sacred in some religions that unless the mother-in-law has applied the first dot of mehendi to the bride’s hand, the painting cannot go ahead. The mehendi dot is considered to be a symbolic blessing, bestowal of which permits the new daughter-in-law to beautify herself for the groom.

Many brides believe that the deeper the color of the mehendi, the deeper the love they will receive from their in-laws, in particular the mother-in-law, whose blessing is particularly important to an Asian bride. Hence she does whatever she can to ensure that the mehendi stain is deep. A good deeply-coloured design is a sign of good luck for the marital couple. It is common for the names of the bride and groom to be hidden in the mehendi design; and the wedding night cannot commence until the groom has found the names. A bride is not expected to perform any housework until her wedding mehendi has faded. While much of the symbolism of mehendi designs are being lost some examples remain. The peacock, which is the national bird of India, the lotus flower, and an elephant with a raised trunk, which is a symbol of good luck, are all popular images.

In some customs the bridegroom’s hands are also decorated, and communities in Kashmir and Bangladesh have evolved particular men’s designs. A current trend in the UK is for traditional patterns in the form of a ring or bracelet.