History question about the habit that nuns wear

[sidetrack]

I have a question about the history of the clothes that the nuns wear.To me at least it seems reminds me a bit of the hijab that Muslom women wear even though I think various societies wore clothes like that before Islam was founded.I remember once watching a documentary about a man going to Egypt to find out about Jesus when he was in Egypt (to avoid “The Massacre of the innocents” said of in the Bible).There he went and interviewed Coptic Christians.I remeber seeing the Coptic Christian nuns and the clothes that they wore almost looked exactly like black burkas but with something different around the neck I think.This looks different from how nuns the way I’ve ussually seen them in real life and in depication like in old paintings ussually have like a white wimple under a larger garment.My question is did the habits that nuns wear now change from the garments that Middle Eastern societies have used for centuries and if so why?.Thank you very much so for your time and blessings.

 

[puzzleannie]

I My question is did the habits that nuns wear now change from the garments that Middle Eastern societies have used for centuries and if so why?.Thank you very much so for your time and blessings.

since most religious habits were patterned on the garb for either unmarried women or widows in their own cultures, I imagine only religious orders that began in Middle Eastern countries have (or had) habits patterned on typical female garb in those countries, and what may still be traditional in those societies that are not westernized, whether Muslim or Christian. Orders that began in western Europe would have had their original habits based on whatever the modest, unostentatious garb for widows or virgins was at that time and place, and I don’t know that those “fashions” were based on middle Eastern patterns.

 

[Peggy_in_Burien]

Two years ago, I found a fascinating book on the subject at my local public library (King County Public Library System, King County, Washington State).

The Habit: A History of the Clothing of Catholic Nuns, by Elizabeth Kuhns.

If you cannot find it at your branch of your library, you might ask for an interlibrary transfer. I have often been able to get books I wanted from as far east as Kansas!

 

[Barbkw]

Are you aware that Islam developed 600 years after the Ascension of Jesus?

 

[sidetrack]

Re: History question about the habit that nuns wear

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Are you aware that Islam developed 600 years after the Ascension of Jesus?

I am aware of that but I think that clothes similar to hijabs already existed for centuries for Islam was founded.

 

[tobbias88]

Yes, the habit is modelled on ME/Arab dress of women at the time of Christ. It is not modelled on Islamic female dress but both come from the same ancient tradition.

Check out the dress of older traditional Bahreini women - they all look like a flock of nuns.

 

[5Loaves]

Our Byzantine Catholic nuns still have these traditional habits. Also the Orthodox nuns do.

 

[StrawberryJam]

I have a question about the history of the clothes that the nuns wear.To me at least it seems reminds me a bit of the hijab that Muslom women wear even though I think various societies wore clothes like that before Islam was founded.I remember once watching a documentary about a man going to Egypt to find out about Jesus when he was in Egypt (to avoid “The Massacre of the innocents” said of in the Bible).There he went and interviewed Coptic Christians.I remeber seeing the Coptic Christian nuns and the clothes that they wore almost looked exactly like black burkas but with something different around the neck I think.This looks different from how nuns the way I’ve ussually seen them in real life and in depication like in old paintings ussually have like a white wimple under a larger garment.My question is did the habits that nuns wear now change from the garments that Middle Eastern societies have used for centuries and if so why?.Thank you very much so for your time and blessings.

Ever questioned the different types of vestments in the Eastern Rite? Or are you more focused on nuns instead of priests?

 

[Hopemercy]

Whatever the history, the truth is that each part of the religious habit is symblic; it has a deep spiritual meaning and each part also has its own prayer as it is donned.

This is what makes the modern trend such a great loss to religious life and why that plays a large part in the decline of religious life…

 

[StrawberryJam]

Whatever the history, the truth is that each part of the religious habit is symblic; it has a deep spiritual meaning and each part also has its own prayer as it is donned.

This is what makes the modern trend such a great loss to religious life and why that plays a large part in the decline of religious life…

I doubt the decline in attendance or vocations can be tied directly to the type of garments one wears on the outside, but it may be related to what is in the heart of the one even in the humble potato sack that we should always keep our eyes open about.