Teej and henna inspirations

Last month was Shrawan, the month in which the monsoon began (albeit a little late) and the month where ladies wear green saris or green kurta surwals and gorgeous green and orange jewelry.It is also the month to get elaborate and imaginative henna designs painted on your hands and arms. You can do your own, or ask friends or get professional to do the job.You have to sit around for ages waiting for the henna to dry and set which means you can't do any chores so you can imagine how hard that is. We have learned that the design does not come off onto the clay which is fortunate since everyone in our office was hennaed. The henna designs have provided inspiration for the designs the ladies put on their sari beads.With their brand new clay skills, the ladies of Sammunat designed and created delightful orange and green hearts which they strung on orange and green wedding beads and wore into the market.Can you imagine their excitement when they ALL got at least one order from someone they met? This was their first creative effort and they all made sales. Admittedly, a crash course in pricing was necessary, but the whole process was affirming. For me, it was wonderful to see them quickly taking off with basic ideas and coming up with their own dreams and possibilities.Some think that at any given time there is a festival somewhere in Nepal. This entry won't dispel that idea!This month's big festival is Teej when lots of women wear red saris and the best known Teej event is that they go to the temple to pray, make offerings, and in some cases even fast, for their husband's long life. Not surprisingly, this is not such a big thing for many of the Sammunat ladies.A lesser known aspect of Teej is that it is a time when parents invite their daughters back to the maternal home to be properly fed. This is an acknowledgement that the lot of a daughter-in-law is not always an easy or well fed one, particularly in small, poor villages. In some celebrations, daughters are even woken up in the middle of the night to be fed to make up for their poor diet in the in-law's home.Teej is also a celebration of female friendship. We'll be wearing our red finery and having a pause in our day to eat some special Teej food and be grateful for the friends we are making here and for all that we are learning from them. Expect some very red sari beads perhaps or special Teej "bahini beads" with their red and gold saris.