Day 1: The Mehndi

So it turns out Indian weddings are long, complicated affairs. I went to two of the three days of a wedding this weekend…yes three DAYS. The first day I attended a mehndi, which is the female side’s family event. I told people I was related, but they just did not believe me for some reason :P Anyways, the main part of this event is a henna party. The bride gets her hands and feet decorated with henna and the rest of the female guests get their hands done.

Everyone encouraged me to participate as it was my first wedding, and I documented it all. The first step is putting on this dark, brown chemical substance (I guess that's henna). It takes about 20 minutes to apply it all.

The second step is waiting till it dries…I lasted two hours before I could not take it anymore and rubbed the dark coating off. What’s left is an orangey outline. Supposedly the heat in your hands changes the color (though I also heard it said it’s how much you love your husband) to a darker red overnight. The darker the red, the more love in the relationship. Mine remained pretty orangey so I think I don’t love my husband very much. Sucks to be him.

And the mehndi is not just hand-painting: there are traditional songs, dancing, and, of course, food. The only problem with the party is that I now have red mittens on my hands for a week or two…I have already stood up at work, rubbed my hands together and shouted “out, out damn spot.”

Other fun fact: this was a sikh wedding. Did you know that it is against sikhism to cut one's hair? That's why the men wear turbans: they're hiding long beards and hippy hair under there!