Origin Of Henna

The art of henna (called Mehndi in Hindi & Urdu) has been practiced for over 5000 years in Pakistan, India, Africa and the Middle East. There is some documentation that it is over 9000 years old.  Because henna has natural cooling properties, people of the desert, for centuries, have been using henna to cool down their bodies.  They make a paste of henna and soak their palms and soles of the feet in it to get an air conditioning affect.  They feel its cooling sensation throughout the body for as long as the henna stain remains on their skin.  Initially, as the stain faded away, it left patterns on the skin surface, which led to ideas to make designs for decorative purposes.  In the ancient Egyptian times mummies wore henna designs and it is documented that Cleopatra herself used henna for decorative purposes.

Henna fruits

Henna was not only a popular adornment for the rich but the poor, who could not afford jewelry, used it to decorate their bodies as well.

HENNA IN THE WEST

Today people all over the world have adopted the ancient traditions of adorning their bodies with the beautiful natural artwork created from the henna plant.  It became a very popular form of temporary body decoration in the 90’s in the US and has become a growing trend ever since.  Celebrities like Madonna, Gwen Stefani, Yasmine Bleeth, Liv Tyler, Xena, and many others proudly adorn their bodies with henna and show them off in public, movies, videos, etc. People throughout the west have adopted the eastern tradition in their lives by having their hands and feet painted for weddings, bellies painted while in pregnancy, heads adorned with henna while going through chemotherapy, scars camouflaged to make them unnoticeable, etc.

CULTURAL & MEDICINAL USES

Henna powder ready for mixing with water

Henna is used for many reasons including: self-expression; celebration of special occasions like weddings, holidays & birthdays; inspiration; reminders; beauty; cosmetic treatments; medicinal uses; blessings & well-being; to be part of an ancient tradition; and an alternative or precursor to a tattoo.

THE HENNA PLANT

Henna (Lawsonia inermis, also known as hina, henna tree, mignonette tree, Egyptian privet) is a flowering plant that grows 12-15 feet high and comes from the sole species of the Lawsonia genus. The English name “henna” comes from the Arabic (ḥinnā).  The name henna also refers to the dye prepared from the henna plant and the art of temporary tattooing based on those dyes. Henna has been used for centuries to dye skin, hair, and fingernails, as well as fabrics including silk, wool, and leather.

The Art of Henna

Henna was used for cosmetic purposes in the Roman Empire, Convivencia-period Iberia and Ancient Egypt, as well as other parts of North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, the Near East and South Asia.  It can be found in other hot climates like Pakistan, India and Australia.   The plant grows best in heat up to 120F degrees and contains more dye at these temperatures.  It wilts in temperatures below 50F degrees.   It also grows better in dry soil than damp soil.  The leaves are in opposite decussate pairs and vary in sizes from approximately 2-4 cm. long.  The flowers are fragrant, produced in conical panicles 1040 cm long, each flower 5 mm diameter, with four white petals. The fruit is a dry capsule 68 mm diameter, containing numerous 12.5 mm seeds.

The henna plant contains lawsone, which is a reddish-orange dye that binds to the keratin (a protein) in our skin and safely stains the skin.  The stain can be from pale orange to nearly black depending on the quality of the henna and how well ones skin takes it.  A good henna, fresh from hot & dry climates, will stain the darkest.

Typical Henna Plant

For body decorations, the leaves of the henna plant are dried, crushed into a fine powder, and made into a creamy paste using a variety of techniques.  This paste is then applied to the skin, staining the top layer of skin only.  In its natural state it will dye the skin an orange or brown color.  Although it looks dark green (or dark brown depending on the henna) when applied, this green paste will flake off revealing an orange stain.  The stain becomes a reddish-brown color after 1-3 days of application.  The palms and the soles of the feet stain the darkest because the skin is the thickest in these areas & contain the most keratin.  The farther away from hands and feet the henna is applied, the lesser the color.  The face area usually stains the lightest.   The designs generally last from 1-4 weeks on the skin surface depending on the henna, care and skin type.

Henna works on all skin types and colors.  It looks just as beautiful on dark skin as light skin but because some people skin may take the dye better than others, it can look more prominent on one and not as much on another (even lighter skin).  But nevertheless, henna is a symbol of beauty, art, and happiness and is meant for EVERYONE!

Decorative Henna

Because henna acts as a sun block, there is an added benefit to having henna designs in the summer.  For those who love to get a tan It leaves tan lines!  In order to benefit from this, it is best to get a henna design, let its natural color stay on for 3-5 days and then go and get a tan.  This way you can enjoy the natural henna color on your body, the henna color with the tan, and then tan lines in the shapes of the design (once the henna fades away)!  The tan lines last as long as the actual tan!

MEDICINAL PROPERTIES

Henna is considered an herb, and has long been known to have healing qualities.   It is used topically and usually not ingested or inhaled.  In ancient times it has been applied to the skin surface for such ailments as headaches, stomach pains, burns (including sunburns), open wounds, as a fever reducer, athlete’s foot and even the prevention of hair loss.   It is also a sun block and has been used on the noses of animals to prevent sunburn.  Another use of henna would be to apply it to goatskin bags, after they have been salt-cured.  It “insect-proofs” or “moth-proofs” the bags by making the skin poisoned or inedible.

TRADITIONS

Henna Leaves

Henna is traditionally used for special occasions like holidays, birthdays and weddings in Africa, Pakistan, India, and the Middle East.  The most popular of the traditions is the Mehndi (henna) Night where the bride, her family, relatives and friends get together to celebrate the wedding to come.  The night is filled with games, music and dance performances that may have been rehearsed for months prior to the event by those closest to the bride while the bride gets extensive henna patterns done on her hands and feet that go to her elbows and sometimes, knees.  The bridal patterns can take hours and are often done by multiple henna artists.  The guests will usually receive small designs (tattoos) on the backs of their hands as well.

Today, brides prefer to have their henna done prior to the Mehndi night so that they can enjoy the festivities and also have a deeper stain by the wedding day.

Tradition holds that for as long as the henna stain appears on the bride, she doesn’t have to do any housework!  Also, the darker the stain the better the marriage and the better the mother-in-law will be!  So you can imagine why the bride would want the stain to come our dark and last as long as possible!

The Ostrich in Biblical Symbolism

In the ancient world, ostrich eggs were placed in the tombs and graves, especially those of rulers and children. They appear to symbolize the hope of resurrection or immortality.

In Church Tradition, the Lion, the Bull, the Man 

and the Eagle represent the four Evangelists.

Because of Earth's precession of the equinoxes it is not possible to know exactly what ancient planispheres symbolize, but there are points in Earth's seasons that are more or less fixed. They fall at different times given one's location on Earth.  For example, the Winter Solstice occurs on December 21 or 22 in the Northern Hemisphere, and June 20 or 21 in the Southern Hemisphere.  As the Afro-Asiatic (who gave us the Bible) would have been most familiar with the cycle of the Northern Hemisphere, that will be the subject of this analysis.

The ancient Afro-Asiatic observed the Spring Equinox (March 21-22), the Summer Solstice (June 21-22), the Autumnal Equinox (Sept. 21-22), the Winter Solstice, (Dec. 21-22). From the Winter Solstice, the hours of daylight lengthen again and the Sun is shown to be Sol Invictus ("the undefeated Sun"). In 12-division zodiacs, the ostrich, which hides its head for a time by lying flat against the ground, symbolizes this and after the Winter Solstice it begins laying its eggs.

Mircea Eliade has shown that ancient cosmological symbolism involves cycles.  Time was regenerated and the cosmogony was repeated on the Winter Solstice, so January (Janus) looks to the past and to the future. The ostrich symbolism is again appropriate. The wild ostrich originated in Africa where this creature produces 90% of its eggs between January and March. In the Church, the egg is both a symbol of new life and the symbol of Christ's resurrection. This is why eggs are decorated and distributed at Pascha/Easter.


The association of new life or rebirth with the ostrich egg has been verified by archaeological finds. Painted or incised ostrich eggs have been found in El-Badari and ancient Kush (Nubia). In the Oriental Museum there are examples of ostrich eggs, which have been decorated over their entire surfaces. The largest concentration of ostrich eggs to be discovered in one place in Predynastic Egypt was found at a tomb in Hierakonpolis (Nekhen). In Kush ostrich eggs have been found in the burials of children. In Egypt, ostrich eggs were placed in the graves of the wealthy. At Naqada, a decorated ostrich egg replaced the owner's missing head. This egg is now in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

Ostrich Egg in
Hanging Church Cairo

Where does the ostrich fit among the signs of the Lion (the Summer Solstice), the Bull (the Autumnal Equinox), the Man who was called, "Father of Fathers" (the Winter Solstice), and the Eagle or Vulture (the Spring Equinox)?  The ostrich comes after the Bull, and the book of Job verifies this.

In Elihu's lengthy discourse (Job 32-39), he illustrates God's transcendence by describing the Lion, the Nubian Wild Goat, the Wild Donkey, the Wild Ox (bull or rhinoceros), the Ostrich, and the Raven or Griffin Vulture. The ostrich comes between the Bull (Autumn Equinox) and the Vulture (Spring Equinox). Clearly, the ostrich represents the Winter Solstice and the hope of new life or life after death.

In ancient Egyptian art, the ostrich feather represented and new life. As early as 2600 B.C., the ostrich was associated with Ma’at, who is shown wearing an ostrich feather. Ma'at weighed the hearts of the dead in her scales to determine who would die the "second death" (Rev. 2:11) and who would take on immortality. Excavation of a grave at Kerma (Nubia) uncovered an ostrich feather placed between the horns of a primitive species of sheep.

Ostrich Feather

Among the royal Egyptians and ancient cattle-herding Nubians the cow was a sacred animal. Horus was the calf of God, born to Hathor, whose animal totem was the long horn cow. Both Hathor and Horus are shown with the Sun cradled in their horns. This indicated divine appointment.

Original article by: Alice C. Linsley

Medicine in ancient Egypt

The medicine of the ancient Egyptians is some of the oldest documented.

From the beginnings of the civilization in the late fourth millennium BC until the Persian invasion of 525 BC, Egyptian medical practice went largely unchanged but was highly advanced for its time, including simple non-invasive surgery, setting of bones, dentistry, and an extensive set of pharmacopoeia. Egyptian medical thought influenced later traditions, including the Greeks

If one had to be ill in ancient times, the best place to do so would probably have been Egypt. Not that an Egyptian's chances of survival would have been significantly better than those of his foreign contemporaries, but at least he had the satisfaction of being treated by physicians whose art was renowned all over the ancient world.

Herbal and mineral Medicine.

Ebers papyrus

Herbs played a major part in Egyptian medicine. The plant medicines mentioned in the Ebers papyrus for instance include opium, cannabis, myrrh, frankincense, fennel, cassia, senna, thyme, henna, juniper, aloe, linseed and castor oil - though some of the translations are less than certain. Cloves of garlic have been found in Egyptian burial sites, including the tomb of Tutankhamen and in the sacred underground temple of the bulls at Saqqara. Many herbs were steeped in wine, which was then drunk as an oral medicine.

Egyptians thought garlic and onions aided endurance, and consumed large quantities of them. Raw garlic was routinely given to asthmatics and to those suffering with bronchial-pulmonary complaints. Onions helped against problems of the digestive system.

Garlic was an important healing agent then just as it still is to the modern Egyptian and to most of the peoples in the Mediterranean area: Fresh cloves are peeled, mashed and macerated in a mixture of vinegar and water. This can be used to gargle and rinse the mouth, or taken internally to treat sore throats and toothache. Another way to take garlic both for prevention as well as treatment is to macerate several cloves of mashed garlic in olive oil. Applied as an external liniment or taken internally it is beneficial for bronchial and lung complaints including colds. A freshly peeled clove of raw garlic wrapped in muslin or cheesecloth and pinned to the undergarment is hoped to protect against infectious diseases such as colds and influenza.

Coriander, “C. Sativum” was considered to have cooling, stimulant, carminative and digestive properties. Both the seeds and the plant were used as a spice in cooking to prevent and eliminate flatulence; they were also taken as a tea for stomach and all kinds of urinary complaints including cystitis. Coriander leaves were commonly added fresh to spicy foods to moderate their irritating effects. It was one of the herbs offered to the gods by the king, and seeds were found in the tomb of Tutankhamen and in other ancient burial sites.

Cumin, “Cumin cyminum” is an umbelliferous herb indigenous to Egypt. The seeds were considered to be a stimulant and effective against flatulence. They were often used together with coriander for flavoring. Cumin powder mixed with some wheat flour as a binder and a little water was applied to relieve the pain of any aching or arthritic joints. Powdered cumin mixed with grease or lard was inserted as an anal suppository to disperse heat from the anus and stop itching.

Medical instruments relief on temple walls

Leaves from many plants, such as willow, sycamore, acacia  or the ym-tree, were used in poultices and the like . Tannic Acid derived from acacia seeds commonly helped for cooling the vessels and heal burns. Castor oil, and dates, were used as laxatives.

  Tape-worms, the snakes in the belly, were dealt with by an infusion of pomegranate root in water, which was strained and drunk. The alkaloids contained in it paralyzed the worms' nervous system, and they relinquished their hold. Ulcers were treated with yeast, as were stomach ailments.

Plants in medicine

Some of the medicines were made from plant materials imported from abroad. Mandrake, introduced from Canaan and grown locally since the New Kingdom, was thought to be an aphrodisiac and, mixed with alcohol, induced unconsciousness. Cedar oil (an antiseptic) originated in the Levant. The Persian henna was grown in Egypt since the Middle Kingdom, and - if identical with henu mentioned in the Ebers Papyrus - was used against hair loss. They treated catarrh with aloe, which came from eastern Africa. Frankincense, containing tetrahydrocannabinol (a painkiller) was used like the hashish. It was imported from Punt.

Minerals and animal products were used too. Honey and grease formed part of many wound treatments, mother's milk was occasionally given against viral diseases like the common cold, fresh meat laid on open wounds and sprains, and animal dung was thought to be effective at times.

Cosmetics

A jar of cosmetics at the Cairo Museum bears the legend: "Eye lotion to be dispersed, good for eyesight." An Egyptian papyrus from 1500 BCE discusses recipes for treating conjunctivitis and cornea, iris, and eyelid problems. Lead-based chemicals like carbonates and acetates were popular for their therapeutic properties.

  Malachite used as eyeliner also had therapeutic value. In a country where eye infections were endemic, the effects of its germicidal qualities were appreciated even if the reasons for its effectiveness were not understood.

It is worth noting that: Dr. Paul Ghalioungi wrote many books and articles on that subject. refer to "Dr. Ghalioungi and ancient medicine" on Goole search... 

“Fūl Medames”

Typical fūl medames “Vicia faba“ is served as breakfast by an Egyptian street vendor with  pickled vegetables, as well as fresh rocket (arugula) leaves on the side and plenty of Baladi (local) bread.

Fūl Street Vendor

Fūl medames (Arabic: فول مدمس‎‎, fūl midammis  IPA: [fuːl meˈdæmmes]; other spellings include fūl mudammas and foule mudammes), or simply fūl, is an Egyptian dish of cooked Fava beans served with vegetable oil, cumin, and optionally with chopped parsley, garlic, onion, lemon juice, and chili pepper. It is a staple food in Egypt. Fūl medames is also a common part of the cuisines of Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Israel, Sudan, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia.

History

The Egyptian used Broad beans (Vicia faba L.), as a popular food in Egypt for a long time. The oldest known broad beans have been found in 5th dynasty tombs. They were mentioned in one of Ramses II's paeans on himself:

"Lower Egypt rowed to Upper Egypt for you, with barley, wheat, salt and beans without number." Stele of Ramses II, year 8-9

Breakfast is ready..

In medicine beans were used in remedies against constipation, in a remedy for a sick tongue or a treatment for male urinary complaints.

According to Herodotus, who travelled through Egypt in the Late Period, beans were ritually unclean and were not grown for human consumption:

"Beans moreover the Egyptians do not at all sow in their land, and those which they grow they neither eat raw nor boil for food; nay the priests do not endure even to look upon them, thinking this to be an unclean kind of pulse." Herodotus, Histories II

Preparing fūl meal

Diodorus thought that the Egyptians were forbidden to eat beans and chick peas in order to teach them the value of abstention. But legumes were found as offerings in tombs. During the times of Ramses III the priests of Thebes and Memphis received donations of beans. Lupins, lentils, chick peas and peas (since the Middle Kingdom) were also consumed. Lentils, easily kept dry, were used in trading. According to the story of Wenamen's journey 21 measures of lentils were part of the payment the Egyptian ambassador gave to the ruler of Byblos for a shipload of timber.

More evidence of the use of fūl in the middle east was in a cache of 2,600 dried wild beans unearthed at a late Neolithic site on the outskirts of Nazareth.

Fūl

The qidra

  

The word medames was originally “Coptic”, meaning "buried", and it’s use here might mean that the beans are buried in the pot, but the most plausible explanation is that the pot was buried in the smouldering ashes for long hours. This cooking method is mentioned in the Talmud Yerushalmi, indicating that the method was used in Middle Eastern countries at least since the fourth century.

Qidra

In the Middle Ages, the making of fūl in Cairo was monopolized by the people living around the Princess Baths, a public bath in a tiny compound near today's public fountain of Muhammad ‘Ali Pasha, a block north of the two elegant minarets of the Mosque of Sultan Mu’ayyad Shaykh above the eleventh-century Bab Zuwaylah gate. During the day, bath-attendants stoked the fires heating the qidras, which are huge pots of bath water. Wood was scarce, so garbage was used as fuel and eventually a dump grew around the baths. When the baths closed at the end of the day, the red embers of the fires continued to burn. To take advantage of these precious fires, huge "qidras" (copper containers) were filled with Fava beans, and these cauldrons were kept simmering all night, and eventually all day too, in order to provide breakfast for Cairo's population. Cook shops throughout Cairo would send their minions to the Princess Baths to buy their wholesale fūl.

Fūl plant

Although there are countless ways of embellishing fūl, the basic recipe remains the same. Once the fūl is cooked, it is salted and eaten plain or accompanied by olive oil, corn oil, butter, clarified butter, buffalo milk, basturma, fried or boiled eggs, tomato sauce, garlic sauce, tahini, fresh lemon juice, chili peppers, or other ingredients including Cumin.

Fūl is prepared from the small, round bean known in Egypt as fūl ḥammām ("bath beans"). Other kinds of Fava beans used by Egyptian cooks are fūl rūmī ("Roman"), large kidney-shaped Fava beans, and fūl baladī (local beans, which are of middling size).

Fresh ful pods

Fūl akhḍar ("green fūl") are the fresh Fava beans in their pods eaten mostly in spring during “Sham El Nassim”. Grains of green fūl is also cooked in a tomato sauce as a vegetable dish.

sprout beans

Fūl nābit (sprout beans) are dried Fava bean soaked in water until they sprouts then they are boiled, it is normally eaten as a soup.

Bisara

The fūl madshūsh ("crushed fūl") are dried crushed Fava beans, they normally are used to make the famous Falafel (Tamieh) patties that are basically made from Fūl madshush,  some spices and then deep fried. Another dish is “Besara” a variant of cracked Fūl and green coriander, leaks and many more green spices presented as  puree garnished with fried onions.

Falafel patties

Each family, group, village or country has it own variation of how to prepare Fūl, for example the fūl Iskandarani (From Alexandria) ispresented with parsley and cotton oil, Fūl Domiati (From Damietta) with eggs and sunflower oil etc...

Typical Fūl meal

Amazingly enough Fūl will blend with almost any type of culinary ingredient to suite different tastes. Some recipes will pass it through a strainer to get rid of the skin and present it like a puree again garnished with oil and lemon.

Fūl medames was exported from Egypt to other parts of the Arabic Speaking World, as well as other parts of Africa and Asia, but particularly to Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Yemen, Sudan and Libya.

Fūl is a popular breakfast dish in Syria, especially Aleppo. The Fava beans are left simmering in large copper jars throughout the night, to be served the next morning, the beans swim in tahini and olive oil, completed with a hint of red pepper paste (made from Aleppo pepper) over the top.

Fūl is a very common dish in Armenia, however unlike most Middle Eastern countries, it is modified with more exclusive and rare spices and not to forget "Bastourma".

In Somalia, fūl is eaten with a pancake-like bread called laxoox (canjeero/injera). It is also part of Ethiopian cuisine, where it is one of the only dishes not served with Ethiopia's traditional injera (flatbread). Instead, fūl is served with standard flour bread, often providing a communal kitchen for patrons seeking to bake such types of breads. The beans are topped, or mixed with, a combination of oil and Berber spices.

In Malta, fūl bil-toome (beans with garlic) is usually associated with fasting during Lent and Good Friday. The beans are cooked in oil with garlic and fresh or dried mint, and then dressed with olive oil or vinegar before serving.

Egyptians Inventions

  

Things that Egyptians Were the First to Create

Egypt has a glorious past, its people descended from a civilization that was once the most intellectually and technologically advanced in the world. Because we all sometimes need a reminder, here’s a quick round up of successful inventions that were created by Egyptians before any other civilization.

Eye makeup (eye shadow and eye liner) – 4000 BC

Egyptians were among the first to popularize the use of eye makeup. 

Some of the earliest makeup palettes date back to circa 5000 BCE, the most common colours being green (made out of malachite, a green carbonate of copper) 

and black (made out of galena, an ore of lead).

System of writing (pictographs) – 3200 BCE

Composed of around 500 symbols, Egyptian hieroglyphics date back to 3200 BCE and represented the first writing system based on illustrated representations of words or sounds.

With the exception of Mesopotamian cuneiform, which emerged independently around 3200 BCE, the innovation of writing in Egypt predated other civilizations’ advancement by thousands of years. The next civilization to invent writing would be the Chinese in 1200 BCE.

Papyrus paper – 3000 BCE

Made from the papyrus plant indigenous to the banks of the Nile River in Egypt, ancient Egyptians were the first among all civilizations to use these thin, paper-like stationary for writing. By 1000 BCE, papyrus papers were being exported out of Egypt for use all over West Asia, as they were more convenient than clay tablets.

365-day calendar – 4000 BCE

Ancient Egyptians originally used a calendar year of 360 days, split into 12 months of 30 days each. It wasn’t until around 4000 BCE that they added extra five days to keep up with the solar calendar, for a total of 365 days. In 238 BCE, Egyptians even invented the leap year. The 365-day calendar, including the leap year, is still in use in most parts of the world today.

Ox-drawn plow – 2500 BCE

The banks of the Nile were once fertile agricultural sites, where ancient Egyptians would grow wheat and a variety of vegetables. The ox-drawn plow made irrigation much easier and farming much more lucrative.

Breath mints

Sadly, ancient Egyptians did not have the best teeth in the ancient world (likely due to the sand residue left in food products by rock grinders), as evidenced by the presence of rotting teeth and terrible tooth abscesses in the mouths of mummies. To cover the smell, Egyptians became the first civilization to invent breath mints, which were originally pellets made out of cinnamon, myrrh, frankincense and honey.

Shaving and haircuts (the clean-cut look)

In ancient Egypt, hair removal for both men and women was an established custom in society. Body hair was associated with barbarianism and un-cleanliness, whereas being clean and well groomed was a sign of sophistication. When the Romans invaded, they looked down on the practice as they believed that body hair was a sign of masculinity, and a man without body hair must be somehow disabled.

The pin-tumbler door lock – 4,000 BCE

A hollowed-out bolt in the door is connected to pins that can be manipulated with the insertion of a key. These locks were much more advanced than those invented years later in Rome, which were built into the door and much easier to pick.

Toothbrushes and toothpaste – 5000 BCE

Ancient Egyptians may have had bad teeth due to the rock debris in their food, but at least they tried to take care of themselves. 

They were the first to have used toothbrushes and toothpaste (made from eggshells and ox hooves) to clean their teeth as a regular ritual.

Reed pens and black ink – 3200 BCE

Not only were ancient Egyptians the first to invent papyrus paper and writing, they were also the first to invent black ink and popularize the use of reed pens. The ink was made from water, soot and vegetables gums.

Wigs

Both men and women as either a fashion statement or to hide baldness used wigs widely in ancient Egypt. They were originally made from human hair and later from date palm fibers.

  

High heels – 3500 BCE 

The first images depicting the use of high heels in Egypt date back to 3500 BCE. Nobility, both male and female, typically wore high heels while common people would walk barefoot. The only exceptions were butchers, who’d wear high heels in order to walk over pools of blood from animal carcasses.

Originally Written by Laura Logan