Published on 12, July, 2020
Covering ones head and or hair has been something humans have done for a very long time and seems to be about much more than warmth. I remember my Mum always weraing a headscarf, Princess Anne style, when I was a child, my Nan would never go out without a hat, I remember watching her fiddling about with her hat pins, and being convinced that she had had holes in the back of her head to stick the pins in and was wiggling the pins about trying to find them.
In medieval times people rarely went out with thier heads uncovered, loose hair was a sign of being unmarried and hair ups were something you did when married.
People still get in dreadful flaps about things like hijabs, let alone veils and covered faces, and yet this has been one of the longest commonly observed customs in human history accross cultures and countries.
Do you alwways wear a hat or head covering? What sort and why?
I'm always hatless, I'd like to be on better terms with hats, I actually look quite good in hats, but my hair disagrees, I'm sure it has invisible arms that reach up and push off any head covering. Me and my boss used to go to a large dept store of a lunch time to play with the hats as we both found it stress busting.
I come from Poland, I confirm in our culture head scarfs were used for long time. They still are in more traditional families, usually by older women. The purpose of covering hair was modesty and staying loyal to the husband (by tradition woman after marrying the man got her long hair shortened and covered when going outside) so the other men know - this lady is not “free”.. now it’s not practiced by young people, but I remember getting a beautiful scarf (from my Ukrainian relative) and as long as I wore it in Ukraine in the orthodox Christian church, it was good. When I used it in Poland, I was called names. In orthodox Christian church by the way women still cover their heads. Head covers of any sort don’t disturb me. In many cultures they are really beautiful. I was in Pakistan and there I covered my head to show my respect to the local culture. The dresses and scarfs I got there were stunning. I covered my head with a pleasure and it even gave me some sort of more privacy - if I sensed someone staring at me, I just covered myself more. It’s interesting topic, I discussed it with my mom long time ago.
This shows that Polish and Irish cultures are so similar to each other as we are both historically Catholic countries - growing up in Rural Ireland with my grandparents and through my Mum’s connections to Nuns in Ireland I discovered the beauty of Catholic traditions pre-Vatican II and it was many years later that I discovered the Traditional Mass in Latin (Mass of the Ages) which is so reverent and beautiful compared to Vatican II in which I was raised
You cannot but be impressed by the efficiency of the Orthodox eucharist, where the people get both the bread (leavened of course) and the wine at the same time - on a spoon. The Latin innovations of azymes (wafers) and the 'filioque' (where the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son as well as the Father) always have stuck me as a bit questionable.
I have an icon of St. Demetrios of Thessalonica, a rather muscular saint, like St. George. He is on horseback spearing a man in armour on foot. The man is sometimes identified as the Roman emperor Diocletian, a notable persecutor of Christians.
I have seen this of the Eastern Orthodox Church and it is absolutely beautiful, as is the singing - I was delighted to see that the Russian Orthodox Church kept thier faith alive all during the years of Communism and what was really wonderful was that the Members of the Russian Royal Family who were murdered (martyred) in 1917 were canonised as Saints within the Russian Orthodox faith