veil and mantilla use

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karow said:
Welcome to head covering! Full head coverer here (tichels mostly, but I have been known to sport cleverly-wrapped pashminas). I’m discerning full-time coverage, and am right now leaning in that direction; all that’s stopping me is working out some professional logistics.

Anywhooo… I’ve spent about a year researching/questioning/discerning Catholic, Christian, and religious hair coverage in general, I’ve never come across the question. So, frankly, I don’t know.

What I do know, however, is that there are just about as many opinions about hair coverage as there are Catholics alive today, and you’ll find just about all of them vociferously expressed on these threads.

Having said that, this is my head covering manifesto:
  1. I cover because I was led to. It’s between me and God when, where, and how I cover.
  2. I cover whenever I’m in a house of God, be it a chapel, church, or whatever, whenever.
  3. I cover during any religious service (NO masses, TLM, Vespers, Adoration, etc., etc.,).
  4. I cover during prayer, be it at church or in my home.
  5. I’m coming to the conclusion that I need to cover whenever I’m in the presence of God, which is why I’m leaning toward full-time coverage.
  6. If someone finds my head cover a “distraction,” then they really need to work on their concentration skills.
  7. I could give 2 cents when, how, or if another woman chooses to cover her hair. That’s between her and God.
My best advice to you is no matter when, where, and how you decide it is appropriate for you to veil, once you have that sucker on, keep it on :rotfl: . If you decide to put it on right before the consecration, you’re going to be spending the most important of the mass futzing with a piece of cloth. My opinion only, but if you’re going to veil, wear it into the sacred space and keep it on until you leave it.
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right on karow somepeople need to focus on Jesus in the Eucharist insteadof finding fault with someone who chooses to veil out of respect for the real pesence in the blessed sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.
 
I am new to wearing veils, also. After reading some of these posts it is comforting to hear that other people don’t like the idea of standing out, as I don’t either. The thing is I really want to wear headcovering, so I am trying not to let what other people think bother me. Sometimes I wear large headbands, hats or scarves and then I don’t feel as if I am standing out so much.

There is a woman at one NO mass I attend who wears a beret every Sunday.

Also, after reading these posts it makes me wonder how many women would wear a veil, hat or mantilla if they saw someone else in one.

I don’t have a TLM near me so I am talking most about NO. I bet if we just started maybe others would, too.

When I do wear a veil I just hold it on with one bobby pin. As far as black or white, I just ordered a brown one. Some websites have several other colors.
 
I wear a hat, not a veil.

To me a veil is very “formal” - - - I’m a very casual type person, so I wear a hat instead.

I wear a hat from the moment I step foot into the church until I am in the parking lot leaving after mass.

It’s just habit now - - - hat on when entering, hat off when exiting!
 
I think that you see mostly white or black lace mantillas because those are the lace colors that are most widely available. Hats were pretty much the thing to wear in the US in the 1950’s to church, they are still popular with African-American Christians, and when hats started to go out of fashion in the very early 1960’s, Jackie Kennedy popularized mantillas in church, as a previous poster indicated.

I looked up some veils on some websites. Forty five dollars for a piece of nylon lace that is readily available from JoAnns fabrics for about nine dollars a yard? You have to be kidding me! I realize some of these ladies are doing this because they are stay at home moms, but seriously, unless something has a lot of handwork (and not just running it through a sewing machine,) that’s just plain expensive!

I bought 3/4 of a yard of black chiffon, and a couple of yards of black lace trim, cut the chiffon into a twenty-two inch diameter circle, then edged the circle with the black lace trim and called it a job. Total cost $12 USD. Total time 1 1/2 hours (mostly pinning the trim to the chiffon.) It’s not as ostentatious as a mantilla made from lace fabric, is more in keeping with my more tailored tastes, and serves the purpose. In the winter I wear a cloche style hat to church, the one I wear every day with my winter coat. That works, too.
 
Barbkw said:
Serious question about the veils and mantillas.

Why the restricted use of pure white or black veils made from furniture dollie material?
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Don’t worry, the world of mantillas has expanded:) I have one that’s a very pretty peach color, and another from my great-grandma which is olive green and black (I’m not sure if the color is from age or if it started that way, but it’s an old style that I haven’t seen before)
 
odile53 said:
I think that you see mostly white or black lace mantillas because those are the lace colors that are most widely available. Hats were pretty much the thing to wear in the US in the 1950’s to church, they are still popular with African-American Christians, and when hats started to go out of fashion in the very early 1960’s, Jackie Kennedy popularized mantillas in church, as a previous poster indicated.

I looked up some veils on some websites. Forty five dollars for a piece of nylon lace that is readily available from JoAnns fabrics for about nine dollars a yard? You have to be kidding me! I realize some of these ladies are doing this because they are stay at home moms, but seriously, unless something has a lot of handwork (and not just running it through a sewing machine,) that’s just plain expensive!

I bought 3/4 of a yard of black chiffon, and a couple of yards of black lace trim, cut the chiffon into a twenty-two inch diameter circle, then edged the circle with the black lace trim and called it a job. Total cost $12 USD. Total time 1 1/2 hours (mostly pinning the trim to the chiffon.) It’s not as ostentatious as a mantilla made from lace fabric, is more in keeping with my more tailored tastes, and serves the purpose. In the winter I wear a cloche style hat to church, the one I wear every day with my winter coat. That works, too.
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I agree, some are pretty expensive but there are some websites that sell them for not so high a price and they are very good. I found a very pretty brown one for 17.00.

I did make a couple of my own also from fabric from JoAnns.
 
Ruth_Catherine said:
I am new to wearing veils, also. After reading some of these posts it is comforting to hear that other people don’t like the idea of standing out, as I don’t either. The thing is I really want to wear headcovering, so I am trying not to let what other people think bother me. Sometimes I wear large headbands, hats or scarves and then I don’t feel as if I am standing out so much.

There is a woman at one NO mass I attend who wears a beret every Sunday.

Also, after reading these posts it makes me wonder how many women would wear a veil, hat or mantilla if they saw someone else in one.

I don’t have a TLM near me so I am talking most about NO. I bet if we just started maybe others would, too.

When I do wear a veil I just hold it on with one bobby pin. As far as black or white, I just ordered a brown one. Some websites have several other colors.
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I was in the same boat for a while: I “discovered” grandma’s old mantilla when I was pretty little (and I think first communion made me want to get to wear a veil ever Mass if I could:D) However, I found that it attracted a lot of attention so I stopped.
One of the reasons I’ve started wearing one again is bc a friend of mine did, so yes, there’s such a thing as positive peer pressure;) I am fortunate that my current parish (at college) has a TLM on Sundays, so no one blinks an eye if I cover at the NO. However, my parish back home is much more…umm…contemporary:bigyikes:… and I’m sure it will attract a lot of attention, especially as it’s one of those round churches where the congregation can see the people across from them. I might switch to a hat, but maybe not bc I am totally a “lacy person” lol!
I’ve heard before that other ladies struggle with the balance between wanting to wear a head covering without causing a distraction to others. (BC obviously the idea of wearing a veil is to NOT attract attention) However, part of me thinks of it in a similar way to the way I think of habits: although originally they weren’t intended to be an evangelization tool, now they do serve as a reminder to others that something special happens at Mass, and SOMEONE special is in the Tabernacle. I think it is especially needed now that many parishs have become very casual. A lady wearing a hat or a veil can remind people where they are.
 
When I was in high school, there was an elderly woman in the parish who always came to Mass dressed in pink from head to toe, including a pink beret. I no longer attend that parish, so I have no idea if she is even alive now, but she wore the beret to every Mass I ever saw her attend.
 
When I first started covering at church I’d wear a mantilla to TLM and a hat to NO. I thought that was the best way not to stick out but still follow my conscience. Now I’m a bit more confident and I wear a scarf no matter what type of Mass I go to. I found that scarves work best for me. Do what works for you and don’t worry about what other people think.
 
They used to be so inexpensive. I still have one that I bought about forty years ago with the price tag on the pouch - $5.00!! - and it is a white mantilla. Beautiful lace too.

My sister brought me back one from Spain. She paid $80 for it and that was almost ten years ago.
 
Lormar said:
They used to be so inexpensive. I still have one that I bought about forty years ago with the price tag on the pouch - $5.00!! - and it is a white mantilla. Beautiful lace too.
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That’s not really all that cheap. $5.00 in 1971 had the same buying power as $27.59 does today.
 
I do not wear a mantilla or a veil (just a personal preference) but I respect those of you who do. And I would say to the posters who feel self-conscious or feel like everybody is staring at them while they wear a veil- do not let these people dictate how you worship!!
It is between you and God. If you feel embarressed about wearing it, offer that humilation/suffering up to God and hold your veiled head high. 😃
 
I really want to veil at mass, there isn’t a Latin Rite nearby and even if there was I would probably have to travel further - right now my Church is just within a comfortable walking distance for the earliest morning mass on a Sunday (about 20-30minutes walk).

There are a few women who wear hats, and there are two women of Indian descent (I know this as one of them is a nurse I have worked with before) and while they both wear “Western” clothes including trousers, they both wear large bright colourful scarfs/veils no doubt influenced by their culture. They go every Sunday.

I’m going to start wearing large headscarfs I think, I currently have two wide headbands - a thick black one which can be pulled wide enough to fully cover my head, and a white lacy see-through one which is about the same size. I’m going to wear the white one to my baptism tomorrow, but pushed back. 🙂 After I get used to wearing them, I might upgrade to headscarfs that are long so trail down my back.
 
LemonAndLime said:
I really want to veil at mass, there isn’t a Latin Rite nearby and even if there was I would probably have to travel further - right now my Church is just within a comfortable walking distance for the earliest morning mass on a Sunday (about 20-30minutes walk).

There are a few women who wear hats, and there are two women of Indian descent (I know this as one of them is a nurse I have worked with before) and while they both wear “Western” clothes including trousers, they both wear large bright colourful scarfs/veils no doubt influenced by their culture. They go every Sunday.

I’m going to start wearing large headscarfs I think, I currently have two wide headbands - a thick black one which can be pulled wide enough to fully cover my head, and a white lacy see-through one which is about the same size. I’m going to wear the white one to my baptism tomorrow, but pushed back. 🙂 After I get used to wearing them, I might upgrade to headscarfs that are long so trail down my back.
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Actually, “trousers” have been worn by women in Asian countries and by Native Americans for thousands of years…but I don’t want to start a ruckus with some of the usual suspects on here. 😉
 
Prayerfully said:
Actually, “trousers” have been worn by women in Asian countries and by Native Americans for thousands of years…but I don’t want to start a ruckus with some of the usual suspects on here. 😉
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No, no, no. You must be horribly mistaken. Trousers have been the sole purview men ever since Thum made a pair out of woolly mammoth skins for her husband, Uug in 65,000 BC.

What’s that you say? The aodai? Salwar kameezes? Those don’t count because they didn’t originate in the West.

Sheesh.

p.s., I wanted to get married in a lehnga until I saw what a nice one costs. The one I chose, a oxblood red and gold explosion of wonderfulness, in Singapore’s Little India, was more than our entire wedding budget. :rotfl:
 
I decided for the Easter Vigil, I’m going to “veil”. Sorta. I purchased a cute black beret which has a little rose on it. I figured that’s the easiest way for me to cover my head at this point until I figure out how to use mantillas and other coverings.
 
TrueLight said:
I decided for the Easter Vigil, I’m going to “veil”. Sorta. I purchased a cute black beret which has a little rose on it. I figured that’s the easiest way for me to cover my head at this point until I figure out how to use mantillas and other coverings.
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That is a headcovering and is just fine! Veiling with a mantilla is a cultural thing when it comes to covering your head. Don’t feel the need to use a lacy veil if you prefer the beret or a hat.
 
TrueLight said:
I decided for the Easter Vigil, I’m going to “veil”. Sorta. I purchased a cute black beret which has a little rose on it. I figured that’s the easiest way for me to cover my head at this point until I figure out how to use mantillas and other coverings.
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I did the same thing. I bought a little brown beret hoping to wear Easter.
 
I’m doing to veil at this Easter vigil when I am baptised and confirmed, I’ve decided and in fact I’m already wearing it to see what it’s like. 🙂

I have this headband/alice band which people mostly wear to push their hair back out of the face, but this one is made of white lace and is really wide; if I pull it out to its widest and place it on my head, it completely covers my scalp but I won’t wear it that wide. I might be daring though and pull it almost completely wide, currently I’m wearing it so that some of it is folded over - its the one I mentioned earlier.

The rest of my outfit - a floral print top which is layered so kind of “flows” and some beige linen trousers (I’m not a fan of skirts/dresses and wouldn’t feel comfortable in them).
 
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