Moroccan Wedding Henna Ceremony

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.

Moroccan wedding henna ceremony. The henna in this rite of passage ceremony is said to protect the couple from the evil eye and to bless them with good luck health and fertility. Traditionally in moroccan weddings henna is separate from the main marriage celebration. All of the women closest to the bride in this case my mom my husband s mother and sisters childhood friends who made the long journey to tangier and my best girlfriends from here gather to celebrate dance eat sweets and drink tea.

The henna is not permanent and it fades with time but it gives a very beautiful traditional style to the bride. The next day is the henna ceremony. 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.

Henna is considered a sign of fertility beauty and optimism for moroccans. The night passes on a new bed in a room decorated in moroccan design with lots of flowers lamps and candles. The moroccan dating customs and wedding ceremony customs are full of unusual ideas.

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. Henna is a sign of moroccan fertility beauty and optimism. 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.

The henna party is traditionally the day or week before the wedding but also can be celebrated at purim and passover. The next day is the henna ceremony. The bride is visited by a hennaya or traditional henna artist who paints intricate designs on her hands and feet.

It is a female gathering around the bride who will have henna tattoos on her hands and feet. There are symbolic motifs in the design which is said to bring good luck. Henna by sienna henna was a part of any culture where the plant grows primarily in places like yemen saudi arabia bahrain india afghanistan in the maghreb such as egypt morocco sudan tunisia and ethiopia.