Cultural object 

: the henné

To know: Henna is a thorny shrub of the Lythraceae family that can reach several meters high. Its
leaves are therefore used as a dye or tattoos that has medical virtues for some traditions. (comes
from the Indian subcontinent and North Africa).

It has been used for thousands of years for hair dyeing, dermatological use, perfumery, therapeutic
and tatoos. Henna tattoos are also temporary tattoos: the pigments are applied to the skin and
disappear after a few weeks.

Importance and connected to certain cultures:

Specifically, henna is originally from the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania), symbol of
female seduction consisting of traditional signs reputedly protective, magical more or less symbolic
especially applied at the time on the back and chest (today: hands or feet).

Henna is commonly a wedding tradition among Muslim and Hindi brides, worn also during special
occasions as well. Before the marriage Hindi, a meeting Is organized to have the henna done
professionally. The hands or feet are embellished with symbolics or historic symbols that
demonstrate the power of love and the strength of the bride during the ceremony. This tradition is
very significant in Hinduism, they used to say that “the darker the henna is, the deeper the love is in
the marriage”.

STEP 3 :

Even if French wedding can happen with a inappropriate using of the henna, Traditional weddings
are still present by honouring it. Thus, the culture is highly represented with the same tradition and
customs.

Second example: when you wear it without any lack of knowledge. We can notice that many people
are wearing it to empowering it in appreciation of the beauty to the tradition, not for just fashion or
a trend. We can, thus, talk about cultural appreciation if the people who is wearing it know and
understand the culture. You can see here how context is everything. Knowing about the traditions
and customs is very important to consider wearing the henna as a cultural appreciation. Thus, some
people can enjoy have a henna with the aim to support the traditions and the history of it. Cultural
appreciation is about respecting and trying to understand the culture to understand better your
worldview (point of view of others cultures). In this case, we are obviously talking of appreciation.