Mehandi Ceremony, Orissa

This video features the Mehandi Ceremony, an important part of a marriage in Orissa, a state located on the east coast of India. In India weddings are considered as sacred and sanctified by rituals.

The Mehandi Ceremony is a pre-wedding ritual performed in the bride’s family home mostly for gathering bride’s friends and relatives for blessing the bride as well as for fun. Mehandi designs are drawn using a paste of henna leaves (Lawsonia inermis).

It is said that the darker the bride's mehandi design the deeper the love her husband has for her and the relationship is stronger.

On this occasion friends and relatives of the bride apply mehandi designs on her hands and feet.