Mehndi

The first night we arrived in Baroda we attended the end of the first part of the wedding event which applies henna to the bride and women attending the wedding. The bride's henna is extremely ornate, although I thought mine (pictured below) was pretty cool too. There were two young women applying henna (ground leaves from the henna plant) from about 2pm to 9pm! They applied it almost as though someone would decorate a cake. You leave the green henna on for a few hours after dabbing it with lemon, and then the brown stains are left on the skin. They last about 2 weeks. I heard that the tradition is such that the bride is not supposed to do any work until the henna fades. :-)