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Henna ceremony in Morocco celebrates this age-old tradition

2025-02-04_20-28-29

 Henna is an expression of joy. And with a child on the way, Hajar, a young Moroccan woman, has much to be joyful about.

She has had her hands and feet covered in a henna design, honouring her heritage through this age-old tradition.

The dye has been used for body art since ancient Egypt, and in December last year, was added to UNESCO's Intangible Culture Heritage list.

Sixteen Arab countries were named in the citation.

"Today, I celebrate seven months of my pregnancy and as Moroccans and Arabs, our way of celebrating is by doing henna, because it's a symbol of joy," says Hajar.

"So we asked the artist to come and organise a celebration day. We inherited this from our mothers and grandmothers, they always did henna on special occasions."

The henna artist in question is Mama Yaaqoubi. She has been doing the traditional body art for the past 30 years.

No bought henna here. She prepares her material from scratch, grinding the leaves into a powder, before adding water and sugar to form a paste.

Dates and milk are offered as part of Moroccan hospitality that shows respect and appreciation for the pregnant woman.

Yaaqoubi explains that in Morocco, there are different types of henna tattoos.

"There is traditional and modern henna, of which the most common are Marrakech henna and Fassi henna," she said.

"Today, most women do Fassi henna, which is a filled design. So girls choose to do Fassi henna, but in a modern and unfilled way."

Yaaqoubi says the UNESCO protection for the artform could not have come soon enough as, sadly, the custom is dying out with young people.

"In the past, the demand for henna was greater. In the past, women used to prepare the henna 'Gaada' [traditional space] and the materials and things necessary, and they used to invite their friends," she said.

She has, however, noticed that henna tattoos fascinates visitors to Morocco.

"Many of tourists do henna. This lets them know about the Moroccan traditions through the henna. Also, after they do a tattoo, when the leave the country they automatically keep a memory from Morocco on their skin."

And Hajar's celebratory henna party ends with women ululating and the pouring of traditional Moroccan tea.

Henna is used in Morocco on many cultural, religious and social occasions, and is an essential part of festive rituals.


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