Moroccan HennaOrigin and Continuation

What is Henna?• Henna is a type of “ink” that consists of dried

leaves, water, and egg whites. • The mixture generally produces a dark green color

which after prolonged contact on skin results in a dark yellow or orange taint.

• Henna resembles a tattoo but only lasts on the skin for two weeks maximum.

• Henna art is composed of cultural designs ranging from flowers to geometric patterns and images of animals or eyes.

Origin: Three-fold• Applied during “Eid Kabir” or “The Big Celebration.”

--Based off of the story of Abraham bringing his son to slaughter before God, but an angel messenger relays to Abraham that a goat be used instead of a boy as a sacrifice to God.

• Applied during the circumcision of boys. --A religious ritual that follows a requirement as written in the Quran.

• Applied during weddings. --Women and men are adorned in Henna.

Purpose• Drawn to represent the “Humsa,” Henna carries the

power to ward off the “Evil Eye” and ensure the success of each ritual– Eid Kabir, Circumcision, Wedding.

• The “Evil Eye” might represent the outcome of losing a lot of money when it is spent on these lavishly celebrated events. We all know how expensive weddings can be, and Eid Kabir might be similar to a Christian’s Christmas.

• With Henna, the risk of poverty because of such expensive events (aka Evil Eye) is believed to be reduced.

Outcome of Henna: Eid Kabir• Henna ensures different successes pertaining to

each ritual, specifically in Morocco.• If Eid Kabir is successful (thanks to the protection of

Henna), then there will be plenty of rainfall and prosperity for all participating families.

• Eid Kabir and henna are public demonstrations. • Historically in Morocco, publically appearing

Muslim rather than Jewish or Christian resulted in lower taxes, friendly trading, and higher social status.

Outcome: Circumcision

• According to Islam, the act of circumcision proves that man is not an animal but a principled and moral being.

• Because circumcision applies to boys in Islam – not to babies like in Judaism – circumcision is a known, public act.

• After circumcision, a boy is recognized as a Muslim man, resulting in a higher social position in the Islam-dominant country of Morocco.

Outcome: Wedding• Everything is meant to be extravagant: food, lodging,

clothing, make-up, henna.• A wedding symbolizes a family’s wealth, power, and

control– particularly displayed in its grasp over its daughters.

• A powerful family has virgin daughters.• A family displays the hymeneal blood of the bride after

her intercourse with the groom as proof that she was a virgin.

• Henna ensures that a bride’s social status is protected as a future wife and mother.

General Outcome

• Henna wards off the evil eye’s release of drought, disease, and barrenness onto Moroccans.

• It brings prosperity, health, and growing families.• Henna brings “baraka,” or blessedness to every

ritual.

Provocations of Evil Eye• The Evil Eye might come from a jealous bystander

watching a family’s extravagant public festival.• The Eye might come from the shedding of innocent

blood, which occurs in every festival. --Blood is believed to attract “jnun” or evil spirits.

• The Evil Eye is like an “Image of Limited Good.”

“Limited Good”• The belief that Good is portioned out to people and

there is not enough good for every single person if one person acquires more Good than others.

• In Moroccan rural villages, there is limited food, water, resources.

• Child mortality rates are high.• There is a limited amount of healthy, attractive

male suitors.

Jealousy: Natural and Supernatural

• Wealthy (aka Good) celebrations for Eid Kabir, circumcision and weddings are a source of jealousy from potential Evil Eye-ers.

• Mirroring the natural world, whose jealous eyes are attracted to abundance, abundance attracts supernatural evil spirits such as “jnun.”

Example Effects of Evil Eye

• If a hungry man looks at a rich man’s buffet of food, he renders all of the food poisonous.

• If a healthy baby is praised out loud, it becomes prone to disease and infirmity.

• A beautiful bride is at risk of death from childbirth if viewed by the Evil Eye.

Evil Eye on Eid Kabir

• If animal sacrificed for Eid Kabir is not large and fat, a family’s social status is threatened.

• On the other hand, a family with a large sacrificial animal is likely to attract poor people to its doorstep in hopes of receiving scraps of meat.

• The poor bring the Evil Eye, as does being too poor to own a large sacrificial animal.

Evil Eye on Circumcision• Circumcision can lead to uncontrolled bleeding,

erectile dysfunction, and even accidental severing of the penis.

• Professional circumcisers carry a string of foreskins with them as proof of their experience.

• That way, if faced with accusations of botched circumcision, circumcisers show their collection of foreskins to the court.

• The blame is then placed on the Evil Eye.

Evil Eye on Weddings• Because a bride is believed to be the most beautiful

creature in the world, she attracts the most malicious “jnun.”

• As a bride she is in a magical state and so she may not cast her eyes on anything lest it cause disaster. A bride’s eyes are continuously downcast.

• Jnun might “steal a bride” from the nuptial chamber, only to have the family find her hiding in her father’s house.

• After she is released from the possession of jnun, she is returned to the chamber in order to consummate the union.

More on Weddings

• “Jnun” are believed to dwell in the earth. • Henna is sprinkled in the bride’s shoes to

protect her from the earth-dwelling jnun.• Henna is sprinkled on the mule’s saddle before

the bride is led seven times around a saint’s tomb so that jnun do not follow her as she is led to her husband’s house.

Bride’s Duties• A bride may not speak throughout the ceremony

because her voice (and eyes) are believed to provoke the Evil Eye.

• She must be silent on the journey to her husband’s home, during which she is covered in a blanket so that jnun cannot follow her.

• Upon her husband’s fields and animals she sprinkles henna.

• The “Ait Yusi” tribe in Morocco have the bride throw a lamb over a tent in her husband’s field in order that the livestock of the village flourish.

More on Circumcision• A boy is also carried on a mule to a saint’s shrine

where the circumcision takes place. • He is carried so that he avoids contact with earth-

dwelling jnun.• He is hooded while riding to mule so that jnun may

not gaze on him.• Henna is applied on the circumcised part and also

has a cooling, alleviating effect.• Boy’s eyes might be ringed with kohl, a black

eyeliner that is believed to possess “baraka” or blessedness.

Even More on Weddings• In Fez, the bride-to-be goes to the “hammam” or

public bath to be cleansed by seven chanting women with seven buckets.

• Jnun are believed to dwell in the hammams.• During the day of the wedding, brides are encouraged

to weep or appear sad, so as to deceive jnun from intruding on an joyous occasion.

• Most brides are genuinely unhappy because she may never see her family again after she marries and may face an indifferent husband or mean mother-in-law until she produces a male child.

Night of Henna

• On the “Night of Henna” or the night of consummation, the new wife’s family might insert a pigeon’s heart into her vagina so that blood spills on the sheets of the nuptial bed during intercourse.

• Most women do not bleed during their first experience with intercourse. About 30% of virgin women bleed. (Westermarck, 1914: 246)

Henna Symbols

• Symbols are typically sharp and linear which represent fingers that gauge out the Evil Eye.

• Drawings of an eye is meant to counter the stare of the Evil Eye and to cause Evil Eye to blink.

• Diamonds symbolize a staring eye as well.

My Henna and Real Henna

ReferenceHenna’s Significance in Amazigh Id,

Circumcision and "Night of the Henna" Celebrations. 2002. Catherine Cartwright Jones. Tap Dancing Lizard LLC.