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Exploring Ancient Henna Traditions While Having a Good Time
It is Weiss’ bachelorette party, and her friends and cousins have gathered at Kush, a bar on the Lower East Side. There they are being painted by henna, a reddish-orange dye prepared from leaves of a Middle Eastern plant. Originally, though, the idea was Weiss’ own.
"For years, I’ve told my friends that if I ever got married, I wanted a Middle Eastern henna party," she says. "The reason is that I am convinced I was a North African Arab woman in my former life," the New York stock market researcher explains. Her only concern right now is how long the flowers are going to stay. She is getting married in four weeks and would like to be henna-free that day. Lisa Butterworth, who is creating the flower bracelet, assures her that every trace of this Moroccan henna will be gone by the wedding day. The women at Kush this Saturday afternoon represent the average New Yorkers who calls Butterworth for henna parties. "It’s usually women of late 20s, early 30s," Butterworth says of her customers. Furthermore, the women are usually white. "Women who have henna in their culture know somebody who can do it cheaper than I can," says Butterworth, who charges between $40 and $60 per hour. She was introduced to henna on a trip to Morocco three years ago, and was so taken by the art form that she just had to learn how to do it herself. Today her business, Modern Mystical Adornment, calls her and her assistant, Constance Lehmann, to parties, festivals and classrooms a couple of times a week. Henna painting in the U.S. peaked about four years ago when Madonna and other celebrities sported henna fashions. "Now it is not as trendy," Butterworth says. "It is more of an accepted thing."
Bonnie Weiss, Jackie’s mother, is not surprised by seeing her daughter with the thick henna paint, which is drying on her arm. "My daughter has always loved henna," she says. Bonnie is not going to have any henna painting, though. "I am allergic to a lot of stuff – don’t want to push it," she explains. Jackie Weiss’ friends, on the other hand, are all lining up to have a memory of the day. They are discussing the designs in the many sample books spread around a table and admiring those who have already had a design made in the palm of the hand, on top of it, on the wrist or the upper arm. "It feels good," says Elizabeth Hale, Weiss’ cousin. She has had a ring of flowers painted on her upper right arm. It will only be visible today, while she is wearing a sleeveless top, not when she goes back to work on Monday. "I’m a dermatologist," she explains. "I have heard many reports of allergic reactions to this." The bride-to-be is neither afraid of allergic reactions nor reactions at her job. "I’m the only woman who does what she wants at my job," she says. "They will consider this perfectly normal."
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ackie
Weiss is chatting with several of her friends while a string of
flowers is being henna-painted around her wrist.
