Keeping Your Scarf On in Church

Al-Hannah sells a pretty lacy al-amirah hijab that I think an Orthodox Christian could reasonably use as a headcovering.  My thought is that a non-Muslim woman might wear the larger part of the covering on the back of the head, rather than surrounding the face.

How would this work?  The front section, the part on the forehead, is completely separate from the larger covering section.  You put it on first — around your head, above the eyebrows and ears — and it helps to keep whatever you put on second from slipping off your head.  After you have this first part around your head, you could eschew the larger part altogether and tie a regular scarf on in whatever way you usually prefer.  Or you could use the longer tube thing, the second part of the al-amira headcovering, as a back-of-the head scarf.  

If you’re reading this and you’re not an Orthodox Christian, you’ll find a discussion here (and here) at Monachos.net about the practice of covering your head in church. 

(photo credit to Josh Parrish)

 

Why Do I Cover My Hair?

I was emailing with someone who knows me only through the Net and in the course of our conversation about hats she said, about a particular hat we were discussing, that “the pattern you sent leaves the front of the hair exposed” and she mentioned that she knew I like to cover my hair, so wouldn’t I prefer a hat that came down over the front of the hairline?

 This is what I said in reply.

“My blog is (unintentionally!) deceptive. I like hats, but covering all my hair, though it’s a practice that fascinates me, is not something I do on a regular basis every single day. Sometimes my hair (which is getting rather long) hangs down and only the top of my head is covered. Sometimes I put it in two braids. Sometimes I tuck it all in. Sometimes I have my hat further down on my forehead and sometimes (like today), it’s pushed back.  You know, kind of Frida Kahlo-ish, when she’d wear the wreathed stuff on her head a little further back.

Sometimes I do not cover my head at all, though lately I have it covered more often that not.

Though I respect the women who cover for religious reasons , I only wish I were noble enough :-) (or whatever) to do that all the time.  I’m not convinced that this is something that contemporary women are called to do (some of us Orthodox folks in the States cover our hair in church, but many don’t – it’s more common in other countries for Orthodox women to cover in church).

But … still (strangely) I have to say that lately I am really drawn to covering it. But I suspect it’s probably the lure of variety that makes headcoverings attractive to me. I am so tired of just about every hairstyle and haircut!  And hats and headscarves offer another wonderful way to layer and add color and so on.

So.  This way of thinking about headcoverings may change at any time.  I may look at it more religiously tomorrow. 

 There are wonderful women who do.

Or I may just end up with an ingrained habit that happens to coincide nicely with a beautiful religious custom.

And so it goes. 

(photo credit to Julia A.  She’s wearing a headscarf because she is visiting an Orthodox monastery)

 

Scarves in Church: Keeping Them On

Emma gives some tips on keeping your headscarf on in church.

(scarf pic from Tznius.com)

 

Dressed for Church or Dressed to Kill?

“We make a statement by the way we dress. Fashion industry continually invites us to make a statement. If we wear work clothes, sporting clothes, military uniforms, business suits, etc. we are making a statement about ourselves, who we are, what we do, what our purpose is. Since we cannot avoid making a statement by our attire, we need to ask ourselves what statement are we making by our attire in Church.”

(the pic?  the gorgeous Fishtail Pleat Skirt from Shukr – check it out in ‘black tulip!’)