ephemeral-elegance: Hello fabulous followers! We’re back with a long overdue FRIDAY FASHION FACT! Wi
ephemeral-elegance: Hello fabulous followers! We’re back with a long overdue FRIDAY FASHION FACT! With all the madness and discrimination rearing it’s ugly head in the world today, today’s fact is a friendly reminder that we are all more connected and have more in common than many people realize. We’re talking about the history of hijabs. To start with, let’s clarify the difference between hijabs, niqabs, and burqas. Hijab is the general term for veiling, although in modern terms, it most commonly refers to the head wrap which covers a woman’s hair. A niqab is essentially the next level of modest veil, covering the bottom half of a woman’s face. Finally, the burqa is a full coverage, sometimes revealing a woman’s eyes, or instead utilizing a mesh panel so the wearer can see, but her eyes are not visible. In this post, I will generally be using the term hijab.The tradition of veiling is nearly as old as civilization itself. There is record of women donning veils as far back as Mesopotamia. Within the Byzantine Empire, it was a symbol of rank. Aristocratic women would cover their faces, while low class women were not permitted to wear veils. It clearly differentiated class levels, showing which women were accessible to all and which were not. The trend soon spread in various forms across the Middle East, throughout the Greek Empire, Arabia, Canaan, and beyond. Of course, we’ve all seen this. Look at any depiction of biblical times, and most women are wearing hijabs. It is everywhere this time of year- just look at any Christmas nativity scene, and you will see that Mother Mary is wearing an early hijab-like veil because, of course, whether people accept it or not, Joseph, Mary, Jesus, and all other biblical figures were Middle Eastern. As veiling was so prevalent in the Middle East during biblical times, it was a common practice among early Jews and Christians. It had morphed from a symbol of class to a symbol of modesty, as it was not uncommon for the lowest class women, who were originally not permitted to veil, to work as prostitutes. Coverage and modesty are in the biblical texts of each of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). So if each of these religions began in the Middle East, and each dictates modesty, why don’t followers of each of these religions wear hijabs today?The simple answer is Westernization. While there were examples of veiling in the Roman Empire, it was not as common in this area is in the the Middle East. Christianity rose to popularity here, and spread westward to the pagan cultures of Europe. As a result, many early Christians simply wore the traditional dress of the people who converted. Fashion simply developed from there. Islam, however, developed in the areas where strict veiling was already a long-running tradition. Therefore, there were far fewer outside influences to stimulate a change in traditional dress. So the next time you hear someone condemning hijabs and burqas, feel free to (politely) remind them that those veiled women are wearing the the dress of the Abrahamic biblical figures, while everyone in western wear is wearing the dress of pagans. If we all recognize even this little piece of history that seems to have been forgotten, maybe we’ll be one step closer to peace on earth, and good will towards all men. Happy holidays to all! Have a question about fashion history you want answered in the next FRIDAY FASHION FACT? Just click the ASK button at the top of the page! -- source link