Women and head coverings

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No takers on my question as to Why does it bother others if we choose to wear a head covering? Veil, cap, had or scarf?
 
KathleenElsie said:
No takers on my question as to Why does it bother others if we choose to wear a head covering? Veil, cap, had or scarf?
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I don’t know the answer to that – it doesn’t bother me at all if other women wear a head covering. I suppose it may depend on the attitude of the veil-wearer – if she’s acting holier-than-thou in an obvious way, I can see where women would be bothered. The women I’ve seen with covered heads don’t act that way, though.

The only time I was made uncomfortable by a woman wearing a veil was in the Perpetual Adoration Chapel. My assigned hour is a very wee hour of the morning, and only very rarely is there anybody else in the Chapel at the same time. One night, there was a woman there (not an asssigned adorer) – she was there when I came in, and still there when I left. She had on a dress and a mantilla. She was sitting in my usual seat, so I took another seat, that happened to be in front of her.

Something was making me uncomfortable; I couldn’t put a finger on it – then I dropped something, and had to turn around to pick it up off the floor. That’s when I saw this other woman staring right at me, boring holes right into my head – totally gave me the creeps. She never said a word, or moved a muscle. I knew she wasn’t looking at the Blessed Sacrament, because her head (or at least, her eyes) would have to have been tilted up to do that. I’m naturally fidgety; maybe she wasn’t too happy with that, or that fact that my head was uncovered. Sadly, that was the one time I can remember that I was happy to leave the Chapel. But it was the only time I was ever bothered by a woman wearing a mantilla.

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KathleenElsie said:
No takers on my question as to Why does it bother others if we choose to wear a head covering? Veil, cap, had or scarf?
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It shouldn’t. We should be focusing on God, not on what other people are (or aren’t) wearing.
 
Just a passing observation: A few years ago when I took my convert wife to a Latin Low Mass (Her first, my first since the 1960s, and our last–topic for another thread…) we saw many women wearing mantillas. The funniest thing we saw was a woman wearing a mantilla AND a track suit. Curious.

I think people should dress for Mass at least as well as they would for work, but veils? Nah.

John
 
adrift said:
It is amusing that everyone talks about a veil. Veils were not a common practice, hats were.

It is a fond memory of Easter of getting a new hat and purse.

Try to get a hat now. Oh there are few here and there but hats for women as part of being dressed up is gone.

It was this change in society that caused the change in women wearing hats to church. Just like men don’t wear hats anymore. Now we have a movement of veils. If you want to wear something on your head, I think you should. Those who don’t should be given the same courtesy.

The veils in the bible was not the same as the veils being talked about now. The veils were more like what the Muslim require of their women.
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Hats are readily available. I go in women’s departments all over town and find them. JC Penney’s, Macy’s, Burlington, Catherine’s, Dillard’s…They even have them at Wal-Mart here. Go anywhere that African American ladies buy their pretty Church suits and you will find beautiful hats. Most of them are much too fussy for me though. I do have some summer straw hats with no frills.
But frankly wearing a cover such as the mantilla or one of my scarves (which are fairly simple) seems more appropriate for me.
The scarves Jewish ladies of Israel wear are intriging. Tiechels? I wish I had the chutzpah to wear those everyday. They succeed where mantillas fail. They actually “cover the hair”.
headcoverings-by-devorah.com/home.html
 
KathleenElsie said:
No takers on my question as to Why does it bother others if we choose to wear a head covering? Veil, cap, had or scarf?
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It bothers people, especially women, because women are trained to look carefully at what other women wear.

Just before I left the States, Meredith Vierra on the Today Show received a bunch of shocked and angry letters because she wore white pants before Memorial Day.
 
slyboots said:
Hats are readily available. I go in women’s departments all over town and find them. JC Penney’s, Macy’s, Burlington, Catherine’s, Dillard’s…They even have them at Wal-Mart here. Go anywhere that African American ladies buy their pretty Church suits and you will find beautiful hats. Most of them are much too fussy for me though. I do have some summer straw hats with no frills.
But frankly wearing a cover such as the mantilla or one of my scarves (which are fairly simple) seems more appropriate for me.
The scarves Jewish ladies of Israel wear are intriging. Tiechels? I wish I had the chutzpah to wear those everyday. They succeed where mantillas fail. They actually “cover the hair”.
headcoverings-by-devorah.com/home.html
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I am glad hats are readily available for you but I live in the sticks and they aren’t available here. The only hats they have are the sun hats. I haven’t seen a vaiety of hats in years. I will be going to Denver will have to check out the stores there.
 
Love the look of hats. Love to wear them out and they look nice with many ourfits.

But, I find them very distracting in some cases. The old fashioned “pill box” fit the head and was not distracting. The big brimed, flowered, feathered ones are not conducive to the sacrifice of the Holy Mass IMHO.
 
adrift said:
I am glad hats are readily available for you but I live in the sticks and they aren’t available here. The only hats they have are the sun hats. I haven’t seen a vaiety of hats in years. I will be going to Denver will have to check out the stores there.
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You live near Denver? You have access to a much more cosmopolitan area than I do.
I hope you have good fortune finding hats there.
While I have several summer straw hats, I still have one winter hat, navy blue, small brimmed with a sheer ribbon around the band. Cloches are available I have noticed as well as the more flamboyant choices. Especially since the Red Hat societies have sprung up in the Midwest. But there’s something about a RED hat that does not lend itself to quiet dignity. They are fun though.
divine-fashion.com/index.php?cPath=28
 
You live near Denver?
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That depends on what you mean by near. It is a three and half hour drive. There is also the difference in what you mean by hats.

I did a google on the history of hats. My contention is that one reason for the decline in wearing hats was that fashion changed and women stopped wearing hats. It is difficult to find a hat suitable to wear to Church something that occurred over time.
Before the Great War being in service as servants was the usual employment for most women as housemaids, cooks or seamstresses. Choice had opened up in the last two decades and slowly some had become shop workers at the new emerging department stores and the more technically minded had become stenographers or telephonists. Women began to seriously participate in sports and needed clothes to move freely. Fashion adapted to their needs providing outfits for golf, climbing, skating, dancing, keep-fit, swimming and cycling. You can read about hat fashion of the 1900-1920 era here.
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Then when the Second World War 1939-45 started, hats became less practical as people had to rush to air raid shelters and they would literally drop everything. Barriers of etiquette became broken down and although hats were not rationed in order to boost morale their wearing decreased.
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Hats that were worn were generally practical and often homemade knitted warm hats, berets and hoods. Fast hats were formed as women tied headscarves into an instant hat such as a turban. Designers produced various new styles, but many only became universally popular after the war finished. You can read about hat fashion of the 1930s here.
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HATS
 
I am a returnee to tradition (and most probably will go SSPX) but in the meanwhile am stuck with our local NO which has varying degrees of reverence. I have taken to wearing a beret (I am French by nationality) and at my home parish have received some questioning looks but all in all it has been no big deal. Yesterday for daily mass I went with a friend to the local (extremely liberal–they think of me as “that SSPX conservative”) Newman Center. The priest there immediately started speaking French with me, which was kind of strange but fine. (Many people speak French with me routinely, he just never has.) He did it because of the beret. I do not think it dawned on him that I am covering for a reason. I am the only one in my home parish who covers. I think the beret is good for this because it seems kind of natural to who I am and is likely not to attract too much attention. Once I can arrange a ride to SSPX masses, I will wear a mantilla (which I used to do back in the good old days decades ago). Oh, how I long for those days.
 
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