I saw this woman on the subway with this white lace thing on her head. It was about the size of a maxi pad (without wings) and was pinned to her hair with the same kinds of pins that people use to keep yarmulkes on. The lace was kind of loose, kind of crocheted-like. The thing was too small to be called a cap, but too big to be called a headband. It was clearly entirely decorative, too loosely-woven and delicate to be functional.
I have the idea that this headpiece has some religious significance, but I don't know in what religion. The woman appeared white to me, and her hair was a medium to light brown, suggesting European ethnic roots. The rest of her clothes were unremarkable and I didn't catch any clues to her religion or ethnicity. I didn't hear her speak, so there are no linguistic clues.
Anyone have any idea what this lace headpiece is or what its purpose is? I know I've heard of such a thing before, perhaps in a novel, but I don't remember what it's for or what it's called.
9 comments:
I don't know what it's called, but when I was a child I used to see women wearing them to synagogue as a way of keeping their heads covered, a la yamakahs (yarmulkes). But not all women did this, and AFAIK it's not required for women to cover their heads, so I never understood it. It was just one of those things older people did, and I stopped asking or trying to figure it out.
Not helpful, I know.
And these were not Orthodox women who wear wigs or completely cover their hair in public after marriage. I just Googled "jewish women head coverings" and most links seem to be about the Orthodox wig practice. I'm going to keep looking, tho.
Back from more research. I have no idea if this is what you saw, but there are small lace headcoverings made for women, the equivalent of a kippa (yamakah) for men. It's definitely what I sometimes saw when I was a kid.
<a href="http://www.ladiesheadcoverings.com/>Is this it?</a>
Oh crap, sorry about that. Still getting used to the small keyboard on my netbook.
link
It seems like it might have been intended for that purpose, but it wasn't shaped like that. In shape and size it was more like the thing Dolly is wearing the Family Circus comic here.
Although now that I think about it, the fact that Dolly from Family Circus tends to wear something like that (although hers isn't lace) makes me think that it could be a fashion item from some bygone era. But I've never seen one before IRL or in media other than Family Cirucs, and no one on the internet seems to know what Dolly's wearing on her head (although a number of people have commented that it looks like a maxi pad). And the general vibe of the thing was something people wear to symbolically cover their head when they don't actually want to cover their head.
WTH, Dolly is wearing a purple maxipad on her head!
Exactly! And she always has. And this lady on the subway was wearing a lace maxipad on her head.
I had no idea. I never paid attention to that comic.
I am trying to figure this same thing out right now. I_m in a class where the two women in front of me have this on. One is about 65 and the other is in her 30s. Both are brown, slightly diff crochet techniques. Some orthodox catholics where head coverings in mass, but this is different from that. Just not sure what this is. Very frustrating!!!!
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