For those of you who haven't heard, our Savta (Bentzi's mother) remarried a few weeks ago. She and Saba Yosef (Cattan) came to visit shortly after the wedding, and her family here decided to make a Chena for her.
A Chena is a Yemenite tradition which is normally celebrated before the Chasuna. It is a special ceremony where the Kallah is adorned with special clothes, jewelry and herbs- each thing she wears is symbolic (my kids were a little scared when they saw their Savta all dressed up...they couldn't recognize her!) The Chasan is also dressed up, but not as elaborately. The actual ceremony involves smearing a paste made of ground Henna onto the hands of the Chassan and Kallah- I think in the 'olden days' they used to do fancy decorations on the Kallah's hands- but we just smeared it! (To read more about the Chena tradition, click here)
I have never attended a Chena before - to the suprise/horror of all Bentzi's Yemenite cousins- and I must say it was QUITE an experience! They had someone saying poems and tefillos in Yemenite and then translating into Hebrew- it was very moving. And of course all the woman were doing the "lalalala" noises, and the Yemenite music was quite wild!
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