No Eid without bangles, mehndi

[LahoreEstate]

Monday, September 21, 2009
By Ali Raza

LAHORE

WOMEN of the East have a affinity for bangles and mehndi and Eid-ul-Fitr is an occasion when they, irrespective of their age, buy bangles and get mehndi designs imprinted on their hands.

You can tell its Eid if Pakistani women are wearing colourful and matching bangles and have mehndi designs on their hands.

Visiting relatives and friends is also a part of Eid celebrations and females, especially young girls, like to wear attractive dresses together with bangles to celebrate the festive event to the fullest. Every year, Mehndi designs change and every girl wants to have a new and different design on her hands so she could look different from her friends and relatives. Flowery designs and fine lines are popular on Eid while many young girls make their own designs. Use of glitter and shining powder as well as stars is a new addition to Mehndi designs.

Bangles are a kind of bracelet that come in many varieties and are made from different materials such as glass, plastic and even gold. Though bangles are worn all over the world for style and fashion, Pakistani glass bangles are renowned and are in great demand.

Bangles have been found at many archaeological sites in Pakistan and India, with the oldest dating back to 2,000 B.C. or even earlier. Early bangles were usually made from copper, bronze, agate, or shell and some featured rivets or gold-leaf decoration as well. The selection of colour of bangles is a difficult task for girls as they want bangles to match with their Eid dresses. Generally, the colour of bangles also has a meaning i.e. red bangles symbolise energy, blue bangles symbolize wisdom, purple symbolizes independence, green stands for luck or marriage, yellow is for happiness, orange represents success, white represents a new beginnings, black portrays power, silver means strength and gold means fortune.

Talking to The News, Saima, a student of class eight, said she and her friends decided to meet on Eid and everyone of them will be wearing bangles of different colours.

She said she liked glass bangles and bought new sets of bangles on every special occasion. “Bangles make me feel special,” she said. “Bangles and Mehndi exude femininity,” said Shumaila, a resident of Faisal Town, who was purchasing bangles from a stall at Model Town Link Road. She said her little daughter also wanted to have glass bangles and mehndi designs on her hands.

“Eid comes after an year and this is the time when we meet most of our relatives. Colourful bangles and mehndi designs are the best way to look good,” said Farrah, a resident of Old Anarkali. A large number of girls also objected to the sale of bangles and mehndi in markets by boys and men.

“They hold girls’ hands to put bangles or imprint Mehndi designs. This does not look good,” said Zainab, a resident of Ichhra. A lot of girls and women have urged the government to set up special stalls of bangles and mehndi run by women in every bazaar on Eid. Entry of boys and men should be prohibited at such bazaars, they said.

http://thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=199581