This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Henna Body Art

Teen girls create henna designs at Corte Madera Library as part of their Summer Events Program

There were 14 girls from 11-16 years of age at the Henna for Teens workshop at the .  All of the girls were focused and having fun creating henna designs. They were inspired by pictures in books, handouts of designs and large displays of photographs of girls and women with henna body art.  

Mehndi, or the art of body painting with henna, has been practiced throughout Africa, India, and the Middle East for thousands of years.  The henna plant is believed to bring love and good fortune. A paste made from the crushed leaves of the henna plant is applied to the skin, and when removed several hours later, leaves beautiful markings on the skin that fade naturally over 1-3 weeks. 

Kimmy, 16, told me, “I like to doodle, and my mom hates when I draw on myself with a pen, so she was like, 'This is fine.'” as she was applying a henna design on her friend Ana Sophia.

Find out what's happening in Larkspur-Corte Maderawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Ana Sofia, 11, told me, “I started doing henna with friends at our house, and said, 'This is fun!' So I decided to get one at the fair with my dad and it was a butterfly … and I started falling in love with it… I really wanted to learn how to do it, so I came to this class. … I went to this same workshop yesterday at another library!”

Ana Sofia showed me her design, “This was in a book that (Rachel) had, so I just decided to trace it and do my own little thing to it … it’s a peacock with vines going up its wing.” (a vine was going up each finger).

Find out what's happening in Larkspur-Corte Maderawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Artist Rachel-Anne Palacios of Devika’s Palacio led the workshop.  After a talk about henna, she provided small, easy-to-use dispensers filled with henna and handouts, books, and lots of photographs of girls and women with henna designs on different parts of their bodies.  Many of the girls copied or traced designs, and some were inspired to create their own. Palacios also went around to each girl and gave them a henna design of their choice. 

Helena, 11, and Carly, 12, came to the workshop together. They are best friends who have known each other since they were 1 and 2 years old. Carly said, “We are just like sisters.”

Carly shared, “I love henna and go every year to the festival to get it and I usually get two or three there, so this is really fun to do. … I like to do flowers,” as she showed me her original flowery design. 

Helena came because, “I have always loved henna. It looks really cool when it's on you and it’s just something fun to do. … There’s a fair in downtown Fairfax once a year, and I always go down there to get henna just for the fun of it.”

There was hardly a sound in the room, during this 1 1/2 hour workshop, as these 14 girls were joyously participating in an age old tradition of adorning themselves and each other with lovely henna designs.

Until next Wednesday, remember, it’s all “for the love of kids…” 

In Joy, Marilyn

Download the movie

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?