If you are interested in having a traditional Jewish henna ceremony, for a marriage or for any other happy occasion, or interested in having me speak to a group about Jewish henna traditions, please contact me!
See here for an overview of Jewish henna traditions in general, and Jewish henna in Israel today.
This information is the result of my own research. Please do not copy this information without proper citation.
See here for an overview of Jewish henna traditions in general, and Jewish henna in Israel today.
This information is the result of my own research. Please do not copy this information without proper citation.
Jewish Henna Traditions among Mediterranean Sephardim
When the Jewish communities of the Iberian peninsula were expelled at the end of the 15th century, they carried their henna traditions with them as they settled into new homes in North Africa and the Ottoman Empire, including southern Greece and the Aegean Islands, the Balkans, Turkey, Ottoman Palestine, and Egypt.
An illuminated ketuba [wedding contract] from Istanbul, 1788
Among Sephardi Jews in Greece, Turkey, and the Balkans, the henna night was referred to by its Ladino name, noche de alhenya (alheña). It often took place in the mikve, the ritual bath; henna was one of the presents given to the bride to take to the bath, along with soaps, perfumes, and embroidered cloths. Generally the bride's fingertips or fingernails were hennaed, and the women celebrated with sweets and the singing of special songs praising the bride's beauty, known as las kantigas del banyo, 'the songs of the bathhouse'.
Henna ceremonies were performed among Jewish communities throughout the eastern Mediterranean: Tiberias (Ottoman Palestine), Smyrna (Izmir, Turkey), Rhodes (Greece), Salonica (Thessaloniki, Greece), and even as far north as Sofia (Bulgaria), and Monastir (Bitola, Macedonia)!
Henna ceremonies were performed among Jewish communities throughout the eastern Mediterranean: Tiberias (Ottoman Palestine), Smyrna (Izmir, Turkey), Rhodes (Greece), Salonica (Thessaloniki, Greece), and even as far north as Sofia (Bulgaria), and Monastir (Bitola, Macedonia)!
Embroidered towels and inlaid clogs for the mikve, Rhodes, mid-20th century
Unlike some other Jewish communities (in Morocco, for example, or Yemen), among Sephardic communities henna was not generally understood as a magic symbol of protection or transformation, but was seen as primarily cosmetic. Henna was also used in daily life as a popular ornament for colouring fingernails and hair.
It appears, for example, in El villano vil, a Ladino folk song popular among Sephardi communities in Greece, Turkey, and the Balkans. One stanza reads (this version was recorded in Salonica/ Thessaloniki, in the late 19th century):
“¡Ah! ¡suve ariva, pastor lindo! / Komeras i beveras / Gozaras de los mis dedos / Atan lindos alhenyyados... [Oh, come, beautiful shepherd! / You will eat and drink / You will enjoy my fingers / so beautifully hennaed]”.
It appears, for example, in El villano vil, a Ladino folk song popular among Sephardi communities in Greece, Turkey, and the Balkans. One stanza reads (this version was recorded in Salonica/ Thessaloniki, in the late 19th century):
“¡Ah! ¡suve ariva, pastor lindo! / Komeras i beveras / Gozaras de los mis dedos / Atan lindos alhenyyados... [Oh, come, beautiful shepherd! / You will eat and drink / You will enjoy my fingers / so beautifully hennaed]”.
A stanza of the Ladino folk song El villano vil, as published by Yacob Abraham Yona in Salonica.
Henna also makes a comic appearance in the following story told by Rebeka Cohen-Ariel, a elderly woman from a Sephardi Jerusalem family, entitled ‘The Seven Repudiated Wives of Makeda’:
There were in Makeda [a legendary town of fools] seven kitas, seven repudiated wives who, one day, all went to the bathhouse and are bathing. Each one is telling a story about all the tsarot, all the problems, she has. “Did your husband throw you out?” “Yes!”... [Each woman tells a story of comically misunderstanding her husband]... The last woman said: “My husband said, ‘How beautiful the woman becomes with a little henna on her hands, feet, and face!’”... [The woman] went and bought a good quantity of henna. Her husband likes henna. Now she’ll show him! She took her clothes off and smeared henna all over her body... She stood on the balcony so [her husband] can see her naked. He isn’t looking. ‘Psst! Psst!’ She calls out to her husband so he can come outside and look at her. Everybody is looking at her on the balcony when the husband finally comes out. ‘Ija d’un mamzer! Daughter of a bastard! The entire world is seeing you naked!’ He went upstairs, gave her a good haftona [beating], and said to her: ‘Go away!’ The seven kitas of Makeda said: “Only for this did our husbands throw us out!”
There were in Makeda [a legendary town of fools] seven kitas, seven repudiated wives who, one day, all went to the bathhouse and are bathing. Each one is telling a story about all the tsarot, all the problems, she has. “Did your husband throw you out?” “Yes!”... [Each woman tells a story of comically misunderstanding her husband]... The last woman said: “My husband said, ‘How beautiful the woman becomes with a little henna on her hands, feet, and face!’”... [The woman] went and bought a good quantity of henna. Her husband likes henna. Now she’ll show him! She took her clothes off and smeared henna all over her body... She stood on the balcony so [her husband] can see her naked. He isn’t looking. ‘Psst! Psst!’ She calls out to her husband so he can come outside and look at her. Everybody is looking at her on the balcony when the husband finally comes out. ‘Ija d’un mamzer! Daughter of a bastard! The entire world is seeing you naked!’ He went upstairs, gave her a good haftona [beating], and said to her: ‘Go away!’ The seven kitas of Makeda said: “Only for this did our husbands throw us out!”
Sources and References:
Angel, Marc. 1980 The Jews of Rhodes: The History of a Sephardic Community.
Armistead, Samuel, and Joseph Silverman. 1971 The Judeo-Spanish Ballad Chapbooks of Yacob Abraham Yona.
Cowles, Genevieve. 1919 Young Romance in Ancient Galilee. Asia: The American Magazine on the Orient, Vol. 19.
Galanté, Abraham. 1937 Histoire des Juifs d’Anatolie: les juifs d’Izmir [History of the Jews of Anatolia: The Jews of Izmir].
Koen-Sarano, Matilda. 2004 King Solomon and the Golden Fish: tales from the Sephardic tradition (translator: Reginetta Haboucha).
Lebel, Jennie. Tide and Wreck: the history of the Jews of Vardar Macedonia.
Leibovici, Sarah. 1986 Noces séfarades: quelques rites [Sephardic weddings: some rituals]. Revue des Études juives, Vol. 145.
Luria, Max. 1930 A Study of the Monastir Dialect of Judeo-Spanish Based on Oral Material Collected in Monastir, Yugo-Slavia.
Molho, Michael. 1950 Usos y Costumbres del los Sephardies de Salonica [The Traditions and Customs of the Sephardim of Salonica].
Montefiore, Judith Cohen. 1844 Notes from a Private Journal of a Visit to Egypt and Palestine, by way of Italy and the Mediterranean.
Moscona, Isaac. 1970 Engagement, Marriage, Divorce. In The Annual of the Cultural, Social, and Educational Association of the Jews of Bulgaria.
Pomeroy, Hilary. 2009 Herbs and Spices in the Sephardic Ballad. In Jewish Languages and Literatures of the Sephardic Jews.
Armistead, Samuel, and Joseph Silverman. 1971 The Judeo-Spanish Ballad Chapbooks of Yacob Abraham Yona.
Cowles, Genevieve. 1919 Young Romance in Ancient Galilee. Asia: The American Magazine on the Orient, Vol. 19.
Galanté, Abraham. 1937 Histoire des Juifs d’Anatolie: les juifs d’Izmir [History of the Jews of Anatolia: The Jews of Izmir].
Koen-Sarano, Matilda. 2004 King Solomon and the Golden Fish: tales from the Sephardic tradition (translator: Reginetta Haboucha).
Lebel, Jennie. Tide and Wreck: the history of the Jews of Vardar Macedonia.
Leibovici, Sarah. 1986 Noces séfarades: quelques rites [Sephardic weddings: some rituals]. Revue des Études juives, Vol. 145.
Luria, Max. 1930 A Study of the Monastir Dialect of Judeo-Spanish Based on Oral Material Collected in Monastir, Yugo-Slavia.
Molho, Michael. 1950 Usos y Costumbres del los Sephardies de Salonica [The Traditions and Customs of the Sephardim of Salonica].
Montefiore, Judith Cohen. 1844 Notes from a Private Journal of a Visit to Egypt and Palestine, by way of Italy and the Mediterranean.
Moscona, Isaac. 1970 Engagement, Marriage, Divorce. In The Annual of the Cultural, Social, and Educational Association of the Jews of Bulgaria.
Pomeroy, Hilary. 2009 Herbs and Spices in the Sephardic Ballad. In Jewish Languages and Literatures of the Sephardic Jews.