Menstruation and Henna: Pollution and Purification - The Henna Page

malevolent spirits through the most menstrual cycles, are believed to be the most likely to have
the Evil Eye (Westermarck, 1926, I: 420) When women became carriers of the Evil Eye, they
were shunned or treated with suspicion in their communities (Westermarck 1926, I: 414-415,
423). Henna prevented the Evil Eye from penetrating the skin. (Tauzin, 1998).
Figure 25: Detail from Shirin Examines Khusraws Portrait, detatched folio from a manuscript of the
Khamseh of Nizami, Iran, late 15th c, Arthur Sackler Gallery s1986.120 (Diba, 1999: pl 2)
In Hofriyat, Sudan, women believed malevolent spirits were responsible for chronic headaches,
depression, “blues” and infertility. A person who had the Evil Eye might inflict these on a
woman, or a spirit could possess her and cause these difficulties (Boddy, 1989: 145). Henna
parties, and specific henna patterns offered protection from these disabilities, so often associated
with menstruation. In Iran, women were concerned about injury from coming in contact with
another woman’s menstrual blood by accident in the hamam, bathhouse, left by a woman was still
spotting after her period. Accidental contact with such menstrual blood was believed to kill a
child, or abort a pregnancy (Friedl, 1991: 16-17). A woman might also interpret infertility,
madness, or spousal rejection as witchcraft, often worked by a jealous co-wife with menstrual
“Menstruation and Henna, Pollution and Purification”, was written by Catherine Cartwright-Jones as partial completion
of the requirements for a Master’s degree in Liberal Studies focusing on henna, under the supervision of Dr. A Smith
and Dr. N Ammar, Kent State University, Kent Ohio, USA
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