_________________ 1. "Youth, oh, youth! | of whom then, youth, art thou born? Say whose son thou art, Who in Fafnir's blood | thy bright blade reddened, And struck thy sword to my heart."
2. "The Noble Hart | my name, and I go A motherless man abroad; Father I had not, | as others have, And lonely ever I live."
OhFortunae
Gender : Posts : 2311 Join date : 2013-10-26 Age : 30 Location : Land of Dance and Song
_________________ 1. "Youth, oh, youth! | of whom then, youth, art thou born? Say whose son thou art, Who in Fafnir's blood | thy bright blade reddened, And struck thy sword to my heart."
2. "The Noble Hart | my name, and I go A motherless man abroad; Father I had not, | as others have, And lonely ever I live."
Lyssa Har Har Harr
Gender : Posts : 8965 Join date : 2012-03-01 Location : The Cockpit
Henna is a dark green colour paste made of the green flowering Henna plant. When mixed with eucalyptus oil or a dash of lemon juice, and applied on the palms, feet, skin, and allowed to dry for 5-8 hours, and then washed off, it leaves a red dye coloration upon contact with body heat, called Mehndi. Its used as a temporary tattoo in the central Asian subcontinent to mark a girl's coming of age, and her wedding.
The common motif is usually the symbol of a Paisley, which to the Persians signified the cypress tree, and to the Indo-Aryans, the vigour of the sun in the form of a golden sap-full mango. They were treated as fertility symbols on the hands of a maturing girl or the bride-to-be. The resemblance of the paisley also blended in with the colourful peacock, and as a sign of rain, water, joy, prosperity. Mangoes and peacocks were the natural liveliness of the spring-summer blossom, when most marriages were fixed.
The name or the initial of the husband-to-be would be hidden into the elaborate Mehndi design and on the wedding night, custom required that the husband find it. In the practical sense, given the tradition of arranged marriages, it was a way of familiarizing oneself to the other slowly, than a right away to sex. The bridal mehndi has been romanticized as a wife enclosing her husband through his initial in her 'hea(r)t'. The belief was also, the long lasting and redder the design, one discerned great was her body heat with the implication of the love/lust/excitement she felt for the whole affair. Practically, it was an ancient way of discerning the balance of humours and consequently the temperament of the person, and such 'clinical' diagnosis when medicines/prospects of doctors weren't that advanced, and the couple didn't know each other. It revealed the state of the body, mind, mood, and health in general.
Modern henna powders and pastes I have heard, come with added chemicals that ensure redness upon drying. We can add that to the myth of modern happiness.
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"The designs are very intricate. Often hidden within the mehndi pattern the name or initials of the groom are applied. [It is also] used an indication of coming of age."
_________________ 1. "Youth, oh, youth! | of whom then, youth, art thou born? Say whose son thou art, Who in Fafnir's blood | thy bright blade reddened, And struck thy sword to my heart."
2. "The Noble Hart | my name, and I go A motherless man abroad; Father I had not, | as others have, And lonely ever I live."
Lyssa Har Har Harr
Gender : Posts : 8965 Join date : 2012-03-01 Location : The Cockpit
Its a valid point, what he says. Earlier the instruments and implements could only be gotten from a Master; now its all commercial. But on the other hand, that does prevent exploitation from master-hoarders retaining you for their own purpose - why global capitalism is so efficacious.
"From Old French ardant (13c.) "burning, hot; zealous," from Latin ardentem "glowing, fiery, hot, ablaze," also used figuratively of passions, present participle of ardere "to burn," from PIE root *as- "to burn, glow" (source also of Old English æsce "ashes", from PIE root *ai- (2) "to burn, glow"…"
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"The word tejas is an -as derivative from the root tij 'sharpen', which is represented in several other Indo-European languages besides Sanskrit, such as Persian (tez 'sharp'), Greek (stizo, stigma 'tattoo', 'tattoo-mark'), Latin (dis-tinguo), Anglosaxon (sticia.n 'stick') and German (stecken). According to the basic meaning of the root, we should therefore expect tejas to mean 'sharpness': and this is actually the case with the earliest rigvedic occurrences. Very soon, however, the word developed a meaning centered on the notion of a peculiar kind of 'substance' or 'energy' with distinctive fiery connotations, manifest as 'glow' on the physical and as 'ardour' or 'fierceness' on the psychical level. Vishnu is successively said to possess the tejas of the wind, sharpened by space, the tejas of the sun, sharpened by the sky, the tejas of mind, sharpened by the quarters, and so forth..." [Paolo Magnone, The Development of Tejas]
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Sharp.
"Old English scearp "having a cutting edge; pointed; intellectually acute, active, shrewd; keen (of senses); severe; biting, bitter (of tastes)," from Proto-Germanic *skarpaz, literally "cutting" (source also of Old Saxon scarp, Old Norse skarpr, Old Frisian skerp, Dutch scherp, German scharf "sharp"), from PIE *(s)ker- (1) "to cut" (source also of Lettish skarbs "sharp," Middle Irish cerb "cutting"…"