Henna Night

The girls and I were invited to the henna night for our friend and baby sitter yesterday. This is the first night of Fatima Ezzahara and Farid's wedding when the bride's hands and feet are painted with henna - temporary painless tattoos - especially for the wedding. The girls didn't quite know what to do when their beloved friend had transformed into a resplendent princess, but they were certainly impressed!

After a little while, all the guests went over the the groom's house where FZ's dowry was waiting on a mule cart. In front of the mule was a ram in a cart with a lovely bow of parsley on his head - all ready to be butchered and eaten the next day. Well, he probably wasn't ready, but everyone else was! With great joy, dancing, singing, hair-flailing, drums, horns and high-pitched yelling (I can't quite describe this unique Moroccan sound!), we all brought the gifts to FZ's home. With our good Mennonite genes, the girls and I made our attempts at at least rhythmic walking!

Back at the home, we were served mint tea and goodies after which the dancing started up again. Some of the dancing is fairly laid-back, but some is basically belly dancing without the skin showing. Soon the girls were begging to go to bed, so we left a little bit before they served supper (9:00 PM). We'll see everyone again tonight when we go to the wedding which will start around 10:00 PM and go until 5:00 AM. On the way home, Katrina said, "Mommy - I thought this was the short party" to which I replied - "It was!"