By Melanie Jacob
Journal Editor
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If there's one thing everyone agreed on about the weekend, it was that Sooraya Durgahee's henna tattoos were both intricate and beautiful.
"Her tattoos were very popular. She worked all day doing those tattoos and did beautiful work on every single person," said Jean Price, the museum's program coordinator and one of the people to get a tattoo. "I think she probably did at minimum 30 tattoos on Saturday. She was one busy lady. She was supposed to finish at 4 p.m., but she stayed until about 4:15 p.m. and worked through her lunch. She was dedicated to doing as many people as she could, which was awesome."
Durgahee's tattoos quickly gained popularity since she started began doing them in the morning. Within hours, there were lineups at her table for the intricate ink work. The designs, which she freestyled using nothing more than a steady hand and a squeeze tube of paste, were done efficiently and without visible errors.
"It started looking so simple and I was like, 'Oh, she's going to do a little flower.' Then there's a tattoo up half my arm and it's amazingly detailed," said Price. "She had it in her head and just did it on my arm."
Traditionally speaking, henna body art goes back thousands of years in Middle Eastern cultures and is sometimes referred to "mendhi." Often, it was used to celebrate marriages by decorating the bridal couple, but was also used for celebrations such as Diwali, Purim, Eid, Night of the Henna, etc.
With such a rich history, it was only natural that it be one of the main attractions at this year's Culture Days.
"We expected (Durgahee) to be popular, but we didn't expect her to be working well past the time she was supposed to go home," said Price. "She was really nice about it and super obliging."
