Tattoos in the Horn

Horndiplomat-Unique facial and body markings are used across the Horn of Africa to enhance female beauty, reports James Jeffrey adding that though popular and colorful, “ some are more controversial than others”

Elegant touch
In Somaliland, where woman have a reputation for elegance and paying attention to fashionable details, henna along with much jewelry and colorful traditional dirac dresses is much in evidence during many public and private functions.
HennaMore than just getting your nails done, Henna is also used to decorate feet and to dye finger and toe nails, fingertips, palms of hands and soles of feet , has also been used for centuries in parts of North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, the Near East and South Asia

Body beautiful
In northern Ethiopia, delicate neck and facial tattoos called nikisat stand out against the traditional white clothing and elaborate hair designs of Ethiopian women..

There is a religious aspect to some nikisat, with lines of tiny crosses along jaws or traditional Ethiopian shaped crosses on foreheads as captured here, at the grounds of Saint George’s Church in the city of Bahir Dar
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