Tourist Henna can be Good Quality Henna

With the history of henna art stretching over 5000 years and all across the India, the Middle East, and North Africa, it seems only logical to assume the art styles of each region and of henna as a whole have evolved greatly from when it was first used. Henna’s original purpose was as an air conditioner, pressed onto the pads hands and feet to cool the wearer (Fabius, 1998). Over millennia, designs for applying the henna began to present themselves, growing into elaborate tattoos with their own histories, iconographic systems, and order for application.  The styles are regional, influenced by each other and by other cultures, incorporating stories, symbols, and ideas into the art work. Reasons for where, when, and why to apply henna became much more elaborate, until henna was far from being the body cooling tool it had begun as.

Local Sector Henna: note the very intricate geometric designs, even lines, perfectly even and balanced, and full painting of  both palms and back of the hands in symmetrical and corresponding designs.

Tourist Sector Henna: note that the design is isolated to one part of the hand, that much of the hand is not filled in, and that it is only one one hand and only on the top. Traditionally both hands would be painted, and if it is on the back of the hand it must be on the palms first. The lines are not fine and are quite lumpy, and there does not seem to be a clear motif or design element fully developed. This is an an A symmetrical design as well, something more common in Western culture than North African or Moroccan culture.

It is only natural for art styles to evolve and develop into new styles, with new histories, meanings and reasons for execution. The meanings behind the new designs in the tourist sector vary greatly from artist to artist, much the same way Dutch Baroque iconography varied from artist to artist. I believe that with time and much sharing between the tourist sector artisan groups, it is likely a new system for symbolism and meaning behind the tourist sector henna art work will grow and shape itself into a totally separate genre of henna design. I have reason to believe it has already begun, through cooperative groups of tourist sector henna artists banding together to help each other out, much the same way the house hold of a local henna artisan supports the artisan of that home (Spurles).  These cooperative groups share iconographic and symbolic meanings between each other, and I believe through time these groups will form larger artisan groups and develop solid and recognizable styles for tourists to choose from in decades to come.

This does not diminish the value of meaning behind the domestic market henna art work, nor draw away from their market as, according to Spurles’s work, only tourists come to the market to receive henna as a trinket to take home. You would not see a bride in the market receiving henna for her wedding – she would go to a local artisan for such work if not to the women in her family. The domestic henna that is done in Marrakesh, and other Moroccan towns and cities, are for special occasions and ceremonies, marking particular points in a woman’s life. You would not see a tourist on the steps of a local henna artist asking for a demonstration as the artisan cannot give it unless the woman receiving the henna has good reason to. The local and tourist market henna artists cater to a different type of customer: one who is looking for decoration for ceremonial reasons, and one who is looking for a souvenir to take home. The local artisan cannot give henna to a tourist as it is unlikely they would have a ‘good’ reason to receive henna, and the tourist artisan cannot give henna for ceremonial reasons as they do not know the symbolic vocabulary necessary for such occasions. They can both practice henna within their own market, without hurting each other economically.

As for technique and quality of art between the two groups; I cannot argue in good conscious that the unrefined work of the tourist sector artisans is “just their style”. Someone who is not practiced at their craft cannot produce the same quality of work as someone who is well trained and well-practiced in the art – like a local henna artist who has spent years apprenticing. However, I can also not deny that all refined styles have their place in art. I am confident that with practice, education of the symbols within the tourist sector henna world, that a new style of henna art and design will evolve, much the same way it has evolved for hundreds of years, and is still evolving in North America as the art practice is increasingly growing in the West (Fabius, 1998).

I admit that I have been looking at the issues surrounding the growth of tourist sector henna in a very ethnocentric, capitalist point of view, and that I do not [as of yet] fully understand the view point of the Moroccan people and why meaning, ceremony, gesture, and henna style are so important to them. I do however believe that the culture of Morocco is changing with the large influx of Western tourists moving in and out of the country. It sounds awful to say, “well, it is going to happen anyway,” but change is natural, and with Western attitudes permeating every corner of the globe, it makes sense that someone would try to capitalize on it. Some might say that the tourist sector henna artists are taking advantage of a long practiced art that traditionally means something very significant and meaningful to a woman and her family, and selling it willy-nilly will devalue the meaning behind henna – especially if tourist henna is confused with local art work. But the first uses of henna never had a symbolic meaning, that meaning and symbolism developed over time and extensive use. With practice and decades of sharing ideas, motifs and patterns of henna design I am confident that tourist sector henna could very well develop into its own genre of henna design, with its own stories and symbols of meaning, establishing its own place in Morocca culture.

I believe that tourist sector henna has its place in both the culture of Morocco, as well as the tourist market place, that is increasingly coming to mean an international zone. If both groups keep to themselves and do not try to degrade each other’s work, and the tourist sector artists work hard to refine their craft, than they can both exist in harmony and both be established cultural and artistic practices.

Women receiving henna in the market place of Morocco

Bibliography

Fabius, C. (1998). Mehndi: the art of henna body painting. New York, Toronto, London, Sydney, Auckland: Random House Inc.

Spurles, P. K. (n.d.). Henna for Brides and Gazelles.

*Note:

         I will be organizing my blog entries to be about four entries per text. I have decided to begin with Henna for Brides and Gazelles because I have a high interest and enthusiasm in the study of henna and was too excited to read this text before any of the other books I have for this course. As you wrote this manuscript and report on henna us in Morocco, I will be doing additional readings (as best I can) on the study of henna instead of just consolidating the information I think is most important in your manuscript as you wrote it and don’t need to read a summary of it. In other words, I will try to expand on the information as best I can.

A-Line-Style

            Henna has a proficient history across North Africa, the Middle East and part of South East Asia (the line from Morocco all the way to the far east of India) - essentially the areas with the climate habitable to grow the henna plant, Lawsonia inermis, - the range of styles the many cultures that use this plant for design and medicine is wide (Fabius, 1998). Everything from strictly geographic lines, ornate swirls, to highly detail natural wild life portraits.

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                Morocco being a mix of Arabic, Berber, and heavy European influence, their style is primarily geometric with highly intricate line work. There is sometimes some animal element integrated into the work, to act as an amulet to ward off or attract particular spirits, but this practice is more common with Berber people than Arab Moroccans (Fabius, 1998). There is a shift in the henna world however, from a highly traditional and spiritual design to one that is more contemporary, western, and multi-cultural.

                What I refer to is the now available tourist sector henna present in the markets and streets of Morocco, presented to tourists as a take-home-cultural-experience. The new designs are not as geometric, nor as intricate or detailed as the traditional henna artisans present, but that does not deny them any less popular, “many of the tourist-sector artisans’ customers are Moroccan, either domestic tourists or expatriates on holiday,” (Spurles, p. 12). The henna these tourist sector artisans produce is considered to be of poor quality compared to the local sector henna art. Local sector artisans will apprentice as a musaa’ida under traditional henna artists at home, considering color, duration, and complexity of design execution before becoming henna artisans in their own right (Spurles, p. 11). They learn a broad range of geometric design vocabulary, something tourist henna artists have no access to and have to resort to self-teaching or learning from other self-taught henna artists (Spurles, p. 83). Without training, their designs and composition of elements deviate from the long standing traditions of established henna practices, both in imagery and placement of henna (Spurles, p. 11). They come up with their own meanings and symbolisms behind their design choices, creating their own cultural stories (Spurles, p. 86).This means that their work has more opportunity to grow into a new art form, a wash with many other cultural influences, deviating away from Moroccan traditional culture into one of its own.

                High quality local henna is recognized by bisected lines for construction, lots of negative space, and uneven lines (Spurles, p. 81). Repeated motifs include vines, flowers and wavy lines or 8 point stars to outline or fill in designs, and sharply defined zigzags are completely absent (Spurles, p. 82). The difference between local and tourist henna is sharp, and the negative treatment the women in the tourist sector receive discourages skilled artisans from working in the tourist sector (Spurles, p. 82). This is not helped by tourist sector artisans possessing neither the connections to local families, nor the technical competence to allow them to leave the market places and work from home as a local sector henna artist (Spurles, p. 82). They cannot even use their own work as evidence of their skill because poor quality henna is recognizable by the local Moroccan and well read-tourist (Spurles, p. 11). This does not mean that tourist sector henna is necessarily bad henna.

Tourist sector henna artists can become quite skilled in time, and take in the many variable styles and cultural values of the wide variety of tourists coming to them to receive henna and make something quite visually appealing. The incorporation of the expressive culture tourist economies attract creates another culture, responding to the new artistic influences (Spurles, p. 84). Tourist henna, for instance, does not follow the Moroccan tradition of always applying henna to the inside of the palm first and always making sure to design both hands symmetrically (Fabius, 1998). This also plays for the feet, where it is more likely to find the bottom of the feet hennaed than the top, and to always have symmetrical designs on both feet; top and bottom. Tourist sector henna artists are more likely to paint one ankle, wrist, shoulder, or part of the neck, making it A symmetrical, a style trait more common in western culture (Spurles, p. 81). These designs are often small, simple, and not time consuming as most tourists only ever plan to spend an hour in the market while on holiday, and only 10-15 minutes in a henna session (Spurles, p. 86). By quickening their work, making it smaller and more compact, as well as easy to place on seemingly random parts of the body, the deviation from the traditional intricate styles presents opportunities for artistic and economic growth within the Moroccan henna world. 

Bibliography

Fabius, C. (1998). Mehndi: the art of henna body painting. New York, Toronto, London, Sydney, Auckland: Random House Inc.

Spurles, P. K. (n.d.). Henna for Brides and Gazelles.

The 'Other' Henna

                As a part time artist and full time anthropological student, I've always had my eye open for new and interesting forms of expressing creativity; earthworks, tattoos, and makeup just to name a few. When I stumbled across henna design as a child, I thought it was a fun way for personal body decoration that wouldn't make my mother upset. However, as I aged and intellectual maturity grew, I sought out forms of art that had far more meaning and mystery than the traditional brush and canvas.

                Henna has a long history, going as far back as antiquity, stretching out across many regions of North Africa and the Middle East through Muslim, Arabic, tribal Africa, and Hindu social groups (Smith, 1999). The place henna holds in Morocco is one centered in symbolic meaning for celebrations and in the stages of a woman’s life. Now a day, however, there is an evolving social and economic stand point for women concerning the application, selling, setting, and artistic design of henna. What with the high influx of tourists coming to Morocco on vacation, there is an ever growing market on the streets for women to leave the domestic domain to make a living selling henna designs to tourists, both domestic and international (Spurles, 2008). This reveals a drastic change from the traditional forms of selling henna, where the women are confined to the domestic home and must be approached by the client, versus being called out to like a common fruit vender in an outdoor market (Spurles, 2008, p. 10). This drastically changes the dynamic of the experience of receiving henna greatly as the application and rituals of henna giving are controlled and done by women, as they are traditionally always done in a women’s space (Spurles, 2008, p. 10). By applying the tourist sector henna in the street which is typically dominated by men and representatives of the state is a big jump from where it had traditionally been given, in an artisan’s home [the domestic space] over seen by women (Spurles, 2008, p. 10). Refreshments are offered to those on the street receiving henna, “instead of receiving them as my guest,” and money is bargained over instead of using language and gesture to indicate that the money which is given is meant as a gift that speaks as a blessing on the giver (Spurles, 2008, p. 10). The demand for tourist sector henna has created a floor of opportunity for women to make money, and many have come to fill that demand, most of who have neither been trained nor apprenticed by local henna artisans (Spurles, 2008, p. 10).

What I find so critical about the difference between the two methods of applying henna are their meanings. Traditional henna was meant as a sign for a particular moment in a woman’s life. When children are born there is a gmata ceremony where henna is rubbed on the hands of the child (Spurles, 2008, p. 23). The children are then wrapped in a cloth and passed around the room to the guests of the house hold who have also rubbed henna onto their hands and will bounce the baby and bless them with promises of money (Spurles, 2008, p. 23). Later in life when a woman is married, her hands and feet will be covered with henna for her marriage. This is very important moment in a woman’s life and is symbolized by placing henna on her feet. Henna is never placed on the feet of a young girl beyond the age of 7 or 8 when there is guaranty no confusion of the girl’s virginity (Spurles, 2008, pp. 31-32). Closer to the end of a woman’s life, when a woman is divorced or widowed, she will abstain from using henna as it is a sad time for her (Spurles, 2008, p. 29). She will be confined to the house, to not show any hair around her face, and to wear only white (Spurles, 2008, p. 29). The practice of henna after this is a sign that the mourning period is over and she can rejoin the rest of the world for celebrations and happiness again  (Spurles, 2008, p. 30). These moments of ceremony and celebration surrounding the application of henna are removed almost entirely by selling henna on the streets to tourists who simply want a trinket to take home. It is the meaning and designs, made specifically for the client, which brings so much more meaning and life to the art forth.

One element of henna that can never be removed is the after care. To ensure the design keeps for as long as possible, a woman must refrain from doing activities like washing dishes or clothes as so to avoid washing the henna off or exfoliating the skin too harshly (Smith, 1999). This can be prevented with after care, either through using lemon juice and sugar to keep the skin clean and smooth (Spurles, 2008, p. 16). Tourist or local woman: after care is important in order to prevent washing off the henna too quickly. This means the woman will have to refrain from doing physical activities that mean her hands and feed would get scrubbed or wet. What this means for a Moroccan woman is that the house work the woman would typically do would be shifted to other members of the family and house hold to keep up with the work (Spurles, 2008, p. 16). A family’s wealth is a reflection of how long they can sustain the house hold without having to ask the woman whose hands and feet are hennaed to take part in the chores (Spurles, 2008, p. 16). This is particularly significant as the henna usually takes place during a celebration when chores and work in the home will become much heavier a burden to bare (Spurles, 2008, p. 16). It is unlikely however that a tourist would have issues with such situations, as many come from places where have machines to do the scrubbing for them, or it is not a tradition to put work on others in order to keep the henna – they would just simply have to watch it wash away more quickly.

I have not gone nearly as far into this text as I would like at this point, but I look forward to uncovering the intricate social and artistic nature of henna that permeates Arabic culture in Morocco and am very excited to read the rest of this manuscript.

Bibliography

Smith, M. (1999). Henna Body Art. Hong Kong: Mars Publishing.

Spurles, P. K. (2008). Henna for Brides and Gazelles: Tradition, Tourism and Gender in Morocco. Montreal: University of Montreal.

The Texts: Annotated

To find a footing in the written world of ethnography, I have chosen 3 texts to work through. As requested from the syllabus, I have one book that is well known and a well-respected over view of Moroccan culture, specifically the Berber people of North Africa. To build on these ideas, I also chose one that is not as well-known but respected as a reliable insight into life of Moroccan Berber women and how their work with textiles shapes the cultural manifestations of the Berber people. For my special topic, I have a personal interest in the work of henna and how it is used to decorate the body, and thus I have been given the manuscript for Dr. Patricia Kelly Spurles’ doctorate dissertation on the influence henna has in the lives of brides, gender, tourism, and women in Morocco. I will be elaborating on this topic through readings of additional books surrounding the art and life of henna.

Becker, C. J. (2006). Amazing Arts in Morocco. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press.

Berber woman holding up a hand woven floor rug

Around the oasis of Tafilalet in Morocco, the Berber people called the Ait khabbash weave brightly coloured carpets, shawls, embroidered indigo head coverings, paint their faces with saffron, and wear ornate jewelry. The symbolism in their cultural arts is heavy with extraordinary detail, and always astonishingly beautiful - and all of it is typically made by women. Like other Berber (Amazigh) people (not including the Arab society of North Africa) the cultural traditions of the arts have been entrusted to the women of their society. Through months of research living in Morocco, and living amongst these women, Becker accumulated knowledge of the women and their arts through family connections and female fellowships. The unprecedented access to the artistic rituals of the Ait Khabbash resulted in a deep examination of the arts themselves. The arts are a performance of the role women play in Islamic North Africa life, and in many ways how women negotiate complex social and religious issues.

Amazigh women are artists because the arts are a form of expressing ethnic identity. The Berber women of Morocco have been entrusted with the role of upholding the cultural traditions and identity of their people, and the value of the Amazigh is that those who are to be the guardians of their identity need to be the people who literally ensure that the values and traditions are passed down from generation to generation. Naturally this means those who create the next generation, the Amazigh women. The arts have manifested themselves to mean visual expressions of Amazigh womanhood, with fertility symbols prevalent throughout much of their work. The control of the symbols of the Amazigh cultural identity has given these women respect and prestige, with their clothing, tattoos and jewelry as statements about identity, given publically, contrasting with the outside view that Islamic women are secluded and veiled. However, their role as public symbols of identity and history are not free from political influence and restriction. With the influx of French colonialism, Arabic-dominated government, and the recent emergence of transnational Berber movement, the women have had to adapt their styles to an ever evolving contemporary world. By framing Amazigh arts with cultural and historical context, it is much clearer to see the full depth and measure of the art work of the Amazigh women.

Hoffman, K. E. (2008). We Share Walls: Lanauge, Land, and Gender in Berber Morocco. Malden: Blackwell Publishing.

Berber boy and girl in ceremonial dress

The Berber people exist in southeastern Morocco, in the plains and mountains, not far from the Sahara Desert. We Share Walls explores the political and economic shifts in the past century and how this has reshaped language practices and ideologies of the people. With so many men leaving the rural areas for the more urban and money lucrative regions, supposedly rich with opportunity, the women now populate the "rugged homeland" keeping the native language (Tashelhit) and traditions alive. The framework this creates is built on the knowledge of rural land, people, and expressive culture - marginalized from the evolving Arab culture of Morocco and immortalized as remnants of an idealized past.

Through song, poetry, photographs and text, We Share Walls closely analyses verbal and song-texted forms of ethnography which experiences anxiety and risk within a neglected Muslim group. Hoffman records and explains language choices and the consequences of public and private contexts and how the Berber women accommodate themselves to an Arabic-speaking society, while maintaining their long standing established Berber identity. With its semiotic and gender issues bubbling just beneath the surface of social interaction and value systems, We Share Walls provides an eye opening insight into the culture, performance, society and gender values of the Berber people.

Spurles, P. K. (2002). Henna for Brides and Gazelles: Tradition, Tourism, and Gender in Morocco.

                Spending several months living in and around Marrakesh, Morocco, researching the lives of henna artists and the artistic designs of the Moroccan henna world, Spurles explores how women from within the city and the surrounding country side have joined the Moroccan tourist sector, providing henna for tourists and local women. In the 1990s, young and old  women would frequently walk the busy tourist areas such as hotels, shopping areas and most prominently streets and outdoor spaces looking for tourists interested in having a piece of Moroccan art work to bring home with them on their skin. Tourist sector henna artists worked mostly in crowded public spaces, deviating considerably from local practices in regards to artistic composition and placement of the henna designs, as well as from the well-known social rules that direct the application of henna according to gender and life cycle stages.

Henna: a mix of traditional andcontemporary style

The tourist sector henna artists are considered to be of poor quality compared to local artisan standards that include colour and duration of the stain in addition to a complicated design execution. Both educated tourists and local residents can distinguish the difference in the designs applied by street-walker henna artists and traditionally apprenticed artisans. The difference between the tourist sector artisans and the local sector workers is so stark that local sector henna artisans would say the tourist sector henna artists were not henna artists at all. Through careful review of the lives of the henna artists, both local and tourist sectors, Spurles reveals the importance henna plays in the lives of women throughout their life time, and as a profession.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berber_people