Mehndi

Yesterday I went to my 2nd party here (I'm doing well I think). One of my colleagues had been invited to a friend's mehndi ceremony and she invited me to go with her. I had to raid the collection of outfits they have lying around here (because apparently it wouldn't do to wear cotton) and was advised to wear as much jewellery as I could get on!

The mehndi ceremony is a bit like a hen party to which the bride's entire extended family and just about everyone she's ever known is invited (men as well as women). Traditionally she wears yellow and green (to symbolise spring and fertility) and although the invite was for 6pm everyone knows that it doesn't start till 8. There was a band (complete with bagpipes) and after the bride had had hundreds of photos taken she was carried in a sedan chair to a bench at the front of the hall where she sat on display for the rest of the evening. Her relatives then danced forward with the mehndi (a type of henna body paint), women first then the men and after that all the bride's close female relatives took it in turns to go up to her and put some oil on her forehead, feed her some methai (pakistani sweet - delicious!) and paint mehndi on her hands.

The colours were incredible, the noise was terrific and I was definitely underdressed and under made-up for the event! Need to go shopping before the next one...