Henna pattern adapted from
portal archway architectural ornament in an Anglican Cathedral, part of
a threshold dividing public from sacred space. |
Each morning
I went past this dirty, inconspicuous green door on a derelict boarded
up building on my way to one of the major libraries or museums, where
I was trying to find the answers about henna's history and traditions.
Every day I'd make some progress then hit a roadblock. Sometimes
paperwork got lost, crucial people were unavailable or unwilling, critical
documents were inaccessible .... If I got frustrated and tried to bash
through and get access, information, I'd get stopped flat. If I found
a key (some clue, some helpful person, some chance encounter, some
thesis, some mention of something I'd never seen before, some new translation,
some way of retrieving information previously unknown) I could walk right
through that barrier and access answers.
That's life. The answer to
life, the universe and everything. Its all doors and keys.
The doors are generally inconspicuous. The keys may be hidden. You
can stand outside, kicking and screaming, getting angry and frustrated
that you're not getting what you want. You even be unaware, or deny
that there's anything on the other side of that closed place. You
may believe that getting through is impossible, or that it's someone else's
fault that you can't get through .... or you can get a key ... and
walk right in.
"If
the shah is riding, his charger will have a golden, gem studded collar
and trappings of gold, and his gholams, or bodyguards, have broad silver
bands round the necks of their steeds, one of the prerogatives of royalty
being the right to dye the tails of the horses with henna."
Sykes:
1910 |
