Editing Veil (section)

==History==
[[File:Bronze_Statuette_of_a_Veiled_and_Masked_Dancer_1.jpg|thumb|upright|Greek bronze statuette of a veiled and masked dancer, 2nd–3rd century BC.]]

=== Antiquity ===
Elite women in ancient [[Mesopotamia]] and in the [[Rise of Macedon|Macedonian]] and [[Persian Empire|Persian empires]] wore the veil as a sign of respectability and high status.<ref name="Ahmed 1992 15">{{cite book|last=Ahmed|first=Leila|title=Women and Gender in Islam|year=1992|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|page=15}}</ref> The earliest attested reference to veiling is found a [[Middle Assyrian Empire|Middle Assyrian]] law code dating from between 1400 and 1100 BC.<ref>{{cite book |last= Graeber |first= David |author-link= David Graeber |year= 2011 |title= Debt: The First 5000 Years |place= Brooklyn, NY |publisher= Melville House |isbn= 9781933633862 |lccn= 2012462122 |page= [https://archive.org/details/debtfirst5000yea00grae/page/184 184] |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/debtfirst5000yea00grae/page/184 }}</ref> Assyria had explicit [[sumptuary laws]] detailing which women must veil and which women must not, depending upon the woman's class, rank, and occupation in society.<ref name="Ahmed 1992 15"/> Female slaves and prostitutes were forbidden to veil and faced harsh penalties if they did so.<ref name="El Guindi">{{Cite book|last=El Guindi|first=Fadwa|title=Hijab|publisher=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World|author2=Sherifa Zahur|year= 2009|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001|isbn=9780195305135}}</ref> The Middle Assyrian law code states:<blockquote>§ 40. A wife-of-a-man, or [widows], or [Assyrian] women who go out into the main thoroughfare [shall not have] their heads [bare]. […] A prostitute shall not veil herself, her head shall be bare. Whoever sees a veiled prostitute shall seize her, secure witnesses, and bring her to the palace entrance. They shall not take her jewelry; he who has seized her shall take her clothing; they shall strike her 50 blows with rods; they shall pour hot pitch over her head. And if a man should see a veiled prostitute and release her and not bring her to the palace entrance: they shall strike that man 50 blows with rods; the one who informs against him shall take his clothing; they shall pierce his ears, thread (them) on a cord, tie (it) at his back; he shall perform the king's service for one full month. Slave-women shall not veil themselves, and he who should see a veiled slave-woman shall seize her and bring her to the palace entrance: they shall cut off her ears; he who seizes her shall take her clothing.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Women in the Ancient Near East|last=Stol|first=Marten|publisher=De Gruyter|others=Richardson, Helen,, Richardson, M. E. J. (Mervyn Edwin John), 1943–|year=2016|isbn=9781614512639|location=Boston|pages=676|oclc=957696695}}</ref></blockquote>Veiling was thus not only a marker of aristocratic rank, but also served to "differentiate between 'respectable' women and those who were publicly available".<ref name="Ahmed 1992 15" /><ref name="El Guindi" /> The veiling of matrons was also customary in [[ancient Greece]]. Between 550 and 323 B.C.E respectable women in classical Greek society were expected to seclude themselves and wear clothing that concealed them from the eyes of strange men.<ref name=ahmed26>Ahmed 1992, p. 26-28.</ref>

The [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean Greek]] term {{lang|gmy|𐀀𐀢𐀒𐀺𐀒}}, ''a-pu-ko-wo-ko'', possibly meaning "headband makers" or "craftsmen of horse veil", and written in [[Linear B]] syllabic script, is also attested since ca. 1300 BC.<ref>Found on the [[Pylos|PY]] Ab 210 and PY Ad 671 tablets. {{cite web|url=http://www.palaeolexicon.com/ShowWord.aspx?Id=16667|title=The Linear B word a-pu-ko-wo-ko|work=Palaeolexicon. Word study tool of ancient languages}} {{cite web|url=http://minoan.deaditerranean.com/resources/linear-b-sign-groups/a/a-pu-ko-wo-ko/|title=a-pu-ko-wo-ko|work=Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B|last=Raymoure|first=K.A.|publisher=Deaditerranean}} {{cite web|title=PY 210 Ab (21)|url=https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/4218}} {{cite web|title=PY 671 Ad (23)|url=https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/4283|website=DĀMOS: Database of Mycenaean at Oslo|publisher=[[University of Oslo]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Jose L. |last=Melena |url=http://campus.usal.es/~revistas_trabajo/index.php/0544-3733/article/viewFile/2565/2606 |title=Index of Mycenaean words }}</ref> In [[ancient Greek]] the word for veil was {{lang|grc|καλύπτρα}} (''kalyptra''; [[Ionic Greek]]: {{lang|grc|καλύπτρη}}, ''kalyptrē''; from the verb {{lang|grc|καλύπτω}}, ''kalyptō'', "I cover").<ref>{{LSJ|ka/luptra&highlight{{=}}veil|καλύπτρα}}, {{LSJ|kalu/ptw&highlight{{=}}veil|καλύπτω|ref}}.</ref>

Classical Greek and [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]] statues sometimes depict Greek women with both their head and face covered by a veil. Caroline Galt and Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones have both argued from such representations and literary references that it was commonplace for women (at least those of higher status) in ancient Greece to cover their hair and face in public. [[Roman Empire|Roman]] women were expected to wear veils as a symbol of the husband's authority over his wife; a married woman who omitted the veil was seen as withdrawing herself from marriage. In 166 BC, consul [[Gaius Sulpicius Gallus|Sulpicius Gallus]] divorced his wife because she had left the house unveiled, thus allowing all to see, as he said, what only he should see. Unmarried girls normally did not veil their heads, but matrons did so to show their modesty and chastity, their ''pudicitia''. Veils also protected women against the evil eye, it was thought.<ref>Sebesta, Judith Lynn. "Symbolism in the Costume of the Roman Woman", pp. 46–53 in Judith Lynn Sebesta & [[Larissa Bonfante]], ''The World of Roman Costume'', University of Wisconsin Press 2001, p.48</ref>

A veil called ''flammeum'' was the most prominent feature of the costume worn by the bride at [[Marriage in ancient Rome|Roman weddings]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/cultural-traditions/10-wedding-traditions-with-surprising-origins.htm|title=10 Wedding Traditions With Surprising Origins|last=Fairley Raney|first=Rebecca|date=25 July 2011|website=HowStuffWorks|access-date=18 January 2019}}</ref> The veil was a deep yellow color reminiscent of a candle flame. The ''flammeum'' also evoked the veil of the [[Flamen Dialis|Flaminica Dialis]], the Roman priestess who could not divorce her husband, the [[Flamen Dialis|high priest of Jupiter]], and thus was seen as a good omen for lifelong fidelity to one man. The Romans apparently thought of the bride as being "clouded over with a veil" and connected the verb ''nubere'' (to be married) with ''nubes'', the word for cloud.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GxGPLju4KEkC&q=flammeum&pg=PA55|pages=55–56|title=The World of Roman Costume|editor=Judith Lynn Sebesta |editor2=Larissa Bonfante|publisher=Univ of Wisconsin Press|year=2001|chapter=The Costume of the Roman Bridge|author=Laetitia La Follette|isbn=9780299138547}}</ref>

Intermixing of populations resulted in a convergence of the cultural practices of Greek, Persian, and Mesopotamian empires and the [[Semitic languages|Semitic-speaking]] peoples of the Middle East.<ref name="El Guindi"/> With the [[spread of Christianity]], the ordinance of [[Christian head covering|headcovering]] by women became normative throughout [[Christendom]] because it was enjoined in the [[Bible]] and by the [[Church Fathers]].<ref name="Hunt2014">{{cite book|last=Hunt|first=Margaret|title=Women in Eighteenth Century Europe|date=11 June 2014|publisher=Taylor & Francis|language=en |isbn=9781317883876|page=58|quote=Today many people associate rules about veiling and headscarves with the Muslim world, but in the eighteenth century they were common among Christians as well, in line with 1 Corinthians 11:4-13 which appears not only to prescribe headcoverings for any women who prays or goes to church, but explicitly to associate it with female subordination, which Islamic veiling traditions do not typically do. Many Christian women wore a head-covering all the time, and certainly when they went outside; those who did not would have been barred from church and likely harassed on the street. … Veils were, of course, required for Catholic nuns, and a veil that actually obscured the face was also a mark of elite status throughout most of Europe. Spanish noblewomen wore them well into the eighteenth century, and so did Venetian women, both elites and non-elites. Across Europe almost any woman who could afford them also wore them to travel.}}</ref><ref name="Gordon2015">{{cite web |last1=Gordon |first1=Greg |date=31 August 2015 |title=Are Head Coverings Really for Today? |url=https://evangelicalfocus.com/yourblog/929/Are-Head-Coverings-Really-for-Today- |access-date=2 May 2022 |publisher=Evangelical Focus |language=English |quote=Hippolytus an early Church Father wrote, “Let all the women have their heads covered.” Others who taught this practice in the Church were, John Calvin [father of the Reformed tradition], Martin Luther [father of the Lutheran tradition], Early Church Fathers, John Wesley [father of the Methodist tradition], Matthew Henry [Presbyterian theologian] to name just a few. We must remind ourselves that until the twentieth century, virtually all Christian women wore head coverings.}}</ref> Veiling and seclusion of women appear to have established themselves among Jews and Christians, before spreading to urban Arabs of the upper classes and eventually among the urban masses.<ref name="El Guindi"/> In the rural areas it was common to cover the hair, but not the face.<ref name="El Guindi"/>

=== Later history ===

[[File:Veils bavaria ncd 2012.jpg|thumb|left|Depiction of [[Isabeau of Bavaria]], queen of France, wearing veiling]]

For many centuries, until around 1175, [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] and then [[Anglo-Normans|Anglo-Norman]] women, with the exception of young unmarried girls, wore veils that entirely covered their hair, and often their necks up to their chins (see [[wimple]]). Only in the [[Tudor period]] (1485), when [[hood (headgear)|hood]]s became increasingly popular, did veils of this type become less common. This varied greatly from one country to another. In Italy, veils, including face veils, were worn in some regions until the 1970s.<ref>''Doni, Elena & Manuela Fulgenz, Il secolo delle donne. L'Italia del novecento al femminile'', (The Women's Century. Italian Women in the 20th Century), Laterza 2001, p. 5.</ref> Women in southern Italy often covered their heads to show that they were modest, well-behaved and pious. They generally wore a ''[[Coif|cuffia]]'' (cap), then the ''[[Headscarf|fazzoletto]]'' (kerchief/head scarves) a long triangular or rectangular piece of cloth that could be tied in various ways, and sometimes covered the whole face except the eyes, sometimes ''bende (lit. swaddles, bandages)'' or a [[wimple]] underneath too.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ladonnasarda.it/cose-belle/4176/storia-del-costume-sardo-su-muccadore-il-copricapo.html|title=Storia del costume sardo – Su muccadore (il copricapo)|last=Marrosu|first=Irene|date=18 December 2014|website=La Donna Sarda|language=it|trans-title=History of Sardinian costume|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308072234/http://www.ladonnasarda.it/cose-belle/4176/storia-del-costume-sardo-su-muccadore-il-copricapo.html|archive-date=8 March 2016}}</ref>

For centuries, European women have worn sheer veils, but only under certain circumstances. Sometimes a veil of this type was draped over and pinned to the [[bonnet (headgear)|bonnet]] or hat of a woman in [[mourning]], especially at the [[funeral]] and during the subsequent period of "high mourning". They would also have been used, as an alternative to a [[mask]], as a simple method of hiding the identity of a woman who was traveling to meet a lover, or doing anything she did not want other people to find out about. More pragmatically, veils were also sometimes worn to protect the complexion from sun and wind damage (when untanned skin was fashionable), or to keep dust out of a woman's face, much as the [[keffiyeh]] (worn by men) is used today.{{Cn|date=May 2024}}

[[File:A_Coptic_woman_of_the_Poorer_Class._(1918)_-_TIMEA.jpg|thumb|[[Copts|Coptic]] Christian woman wearing a veil (1918)]]

In [[Judaism]], [[Christianity]], and [[Islam]] the concept of covering the head is or was associated with propriety and modesty. Most traditional depictions of the [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Virgin Mary]], the mother of [[Christ]], show her veiled. During the [[Middle Ages]] most European married women covered their hair rather than their face, with a variety of styles of [[wimple]], kerchiefs and headscarves. Veiling, covering the hair, was the normative practice of Christian women until at least the 19th century and still extant in certain regions, in accordance with Christian teaching delineated by Saint Paul in {{bibleverse|1 Corinthians|11|RSV}}. While in the Western world this practice largely lapsed in the 1960s with the rise of the [[sexual revolution]], traditional congregations, such as those of [[Conservative Anabaptists|Conservative Anabaptist Christians]], as well as certain [[Oriental Orthodox|Oriental Orthodox Christians]] and [[Eastern Orthodox|Eastern Orthodox Christians]], continue observing the [[ordinance (Christianity)|ordinance]] of headcovering.<ref name="Hunt2014"/><ref name="Anderson2019"/><ref name="Gordon2015"/><ref name="DBC2021">{{cite book |title=Dunkard Brethren Church Polity |date=1 November 2021 |publisher=[[Dunkard Brethren Church]] |page=6}}</ref><ref name="Nektarios2022">{{cite web |last1=Nektarios |first1=Subdeacon |title=Veiling of Orthodox Christian Women According to the Fathers and in the History of the Church |url=https://www.orthodoxethos.com/post/veiling-of-orthodox-christian-women-according-to-the-fathers-and-in-the-history-of-the-church |publisher=Orthodox Ethos |access-date=24 January 2023 |language=en |date=4 October 2022|quote=What is common among these saints and many others is that when speaking of women veiling their heads, it is not just in reference to their liturgical life in the Church but in all aspects of daily life. In another example, Didascalia Apostolorum, a little known but ancient document on Church Order, was “originally composed in Greek c. 230 in northern Syria,” writes scholar Gabriel Radle, “possibly by a bishop, alludes to some of the same preoccupations about the exposure of women’s bodies, including their heads.” The author of Didascalia Apostolorum admonishes women not to dress their hair “with the hairstyle of a harlot,” but instructs them, “when you walk in the street cover your head with your robe so that your great beauty is concealed by your veiling.” During these ancient times the saints called women to adhere to the apostolic tradition and veil themselves while going about everyday life}}</ref> Other Christian women, including certain [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] and [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Koopman |first1=John Henry |title=A Defense of Headcoverings in the Lutheran Church |date=August 3, 2022 |publisher=Gottesdienst: The Journal of Lutheran Liturgy |pages=9–10}}</ref> as well as certain conservative [[Calvinism|Reformed Christian]] women (such as those belonging to the [[Heritage Reformed Congregations]] or [[Free Presbyterian Church of North America]]), continue to wear a headcovering at least during prayer and worship.<ref name="Yin2018">{{cite web |last1=Yin |first1=Simon |title=Church Evangelism: Heritage Reformed Congregation, Grand Rapids, Michigan |url=https://cdn.heritagereformed.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/11180438/2018-04-Glad-Tidings.pdf |publisher=[[Heritage Reformed Congregations]] |access-date=13 June 2022 |page=6 |language=English |date=2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Visiting for the First Time? |url=https://www.nrcsf.com/visiting-for-the-first-time |publisher=Netherlands Reformed Church Of Sioux Falls |access-date=13 June 2022 |language=English}}</ref><ref name="Murray1992">{{cite web |last1=Murray |first1=John |title=The Use of Head Coverings in the Worship of God |url=https://presbyterianreformed.org/1992/01/use-head-coverings-worship-god/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150312161900/https://presbyterianreformed.org/1992/01/use-head-coverings-worship-god/|archive-date=12 March 2015 |access-date=22 November 2021 |language=English |date=15 January 1992|publisher=Presbyterian Reformed Church}}</ref> Lace face-veils are often worn by female relatives at funerals in some Catholic countries. In [[Orthodox Judaism]], married women cover their hair for reasons of modesty; many Orthodox Jewish women wear headscarves ([[tichel]]) for this purpose.

Christian Byzantine literature expressed rigid norms pertaining to veiling of women, which have been influenced by Persian traditions, although there is evidence to suggest that they differed significantly from actual practice.<ref name=ahmed26 /> Since Islam identified with the monotheistic religions practiced in the Byzantine and [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian]] empires, in the aftermath of the [[early Muslim conquests]] veiling of women was adopted as an appropriate expression of Qur'anic ideals regarding modesty and piety.<ref>Ahmed 1992, p. 36.</ref> Veiling gradually spread to upper-class Arab women, and eventually, it became widespread among Muslim women in cities throughout the Middle East. Veiling of Arab Muslim women became especially pervasive under Ottoman rule as a mark of rank and exclusive lifestyle, and Istanbul of the 17th century witnessed differentiated dress styles that reflected geographical and occupational identities.<ref name="El Guindi"/> Women in rural areas were much slower to adopt veiling because the garments interfered with their work in the fields.<ref>{{cite book|last=Esposito|first=John|title=Islam: The Straight Path|url=https://archive.org/details/islam00john|url-access=registration|year=1991|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/islam00john/page/99 99]|isbn=978-0-19-506225-0|edition=3}}</ref> Since wearing a veil was impractical for working women, "a veiled woman silently announced that her husband was rich enough to keep her idle."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Islam: A Thousand Years of Faith and Power|last1=Bloom|first1=Jonathan|last2=Blair|first2=Sheila|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2002|isbn=0300094221|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780300094220/page/47 47]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780300094220/page/47}}</ref> By the 19th century, upper-class urban Muslim and Christian women in Egypt wore a garment which included a head cover and a ''burqa'' ([[muslin]] cloth that covered the lower nose and the mouth).<ref name="El Guindi"/> Up to the first half of the twentieth century, rural women in the Maghreb and Egypt put on a face veil when they visited urban areas, "as a sign of civilization".<ref>{{cite book|title=Religion in Public Spaces: A European Perspective|last=Silverstri|first=Sara|publisher=Routledge|year=2016|isbn=9781317067542|editor=Silvio Ferrari |editor2=Sabrina Pastorelli|page=276|chapter=Comparing Burqa Debates in Europe|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=be7sCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA276}}</ref> The practice of veiling gradually declined in much of the Muslim world during the 20th century before making a comeback in recent decades. The choice, or the forced option for women to veil remains controversial, whether a personal choice as an outward sign of religious devotion, or a forced one because of extremist groups that require a veil, under severe penalty, even death.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/apr/18/woman-whipped-by-the-taliban-over-burqa-without-veil-afghanistan|title='I lost consciousness': woman whipped by the Taliban over burqa without veil &#124; Haroon Janjua|date=18 April 2019|website=the Guardian}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://iwpr.net/global-voices/afghan-women-still-bound-burka|title=Afghan Women Still Bound by Burka|website=iwpr.net}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org.uk/womens-rights-afghanistan-history|title=Women in Afghanistan: the back story|website=www.amnesty.org.uk|access-date=2020-01-25}}</ref> The motives and reasons for wearing a hijab are wide and various, but ultimately depend on each individual person's situation and can not be said to come from any one distinct reason or motive.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2018/04/25/reactionary-regimes-use-hijab-law-to-control-women-but-so-do-liberalizing-ones/|title=Reactionary regimes use hijab law to control women — but so do liberalizing ones (paywall)|last=Al Saied|first=Najat|date=2018|newspaper=Washington Post}}</ref> Although religion can be a common reason for choosing to veil, the practice also reflects political and personal conviction, so that it can serve as a medium through which personal choices can be revealed, in countries where veiling is indeed a choice, such as Turkey.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Secor|first=Anna|date=2002|title=The Veil and Urban Space in Istanbul: Women's Dress, Mobility and Islamic Knowledge|journal=Gender, Place & Culture|volume=9|issue=1|pages=5–22|doi=10.1080/09663690120115010|s2cid=144860539}}</ref>

===Veils for men===
[[File:Targui.jpg|thumb|Tuareg man wearing a veil]]
{{Main|Litham}}

Among the [[Tuareg people|Tuareg]], [[Songhai people|Songhai]], [[Hausa people|Hausa]], and [[Fulani]] of [[West Africa]], women do not traditionally wear the veil, while men do. Male veiling was also common among the Berber [[Sanhaja]] tribes.<ref name=EI2/> The North African male veil, which covers the mouth and sometimes part of the nose, is called ''[[litham]]'' in Arabic and ''[[tagelmust]]'' by the Tuareg.<ref name=EI2>{{Cite encyclopedia|author=Björkman, W. | year= 2012 | title=Lit̲h̲ām |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam| edition=2nd|publisher=Brill |editor=P. Bearman |editor2=Th. Bianquis |editor3=C.E. Bosworth |editor4=E. van Donzel |editor5=W.P. Heinrichs| doi= 10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_4672 }}</ref><ref name=twareg>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World|editor= Peter N. Stearns|title=Twareg|publisher=Oxford University Press|author=Allen Fromherz|author-link1=Allen James Fromherz|year=2008|doi= 10.1093/acref/9780195176322.001.0001|isbn= 9780195176322}}</ref> Tuareg boys start wearing the veil at the onset of puberty and veiling is regarded as a mark of manhood.<ref name=twareg/> It is considered improper for a man to appear unveiled in front of elders, especially those from his wife's family.<ref name=twareg/>

Ancient African rock engravings depicting human faces with eyes but no mouth or nose suggest that the origins of litham are pre-Islamic and even pre-historic.<ref name=EI2/> Wearing of the litham is not viewed as a religious requirement, although it was apparently believed to provide magical protection against evil forces.<ref name=EI2/> In practice, the litham has served as protection from the dust and extremes of temperature characterizing the desert environment.<ref name=EI2/> Its use by the [[Almoravids]] gave it a political significance during their conquests.<ref name=EI2/>

[[File:Sehrabandi.png|thumb|right|200px|Indian groom in traditional attire, with Sherwani, Sehra and Mojdi]]
In some parts of [[India]], [[Pakistan]], [[Bangladesh]], and [[Nepal]], men wear a [[Sehra (headdress)|''sehra'' (headdress)]] on their wedding day. This is a male veil covering the whole face and neck. The sehra is made from either flowers or beads.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.utsavpedia.com/attires/sehra/|title = Sehra: Traditional Headdress for Indian Groom|date = 18 June 2014}}</ref><ref>Gullapalli, S., & Sagi, A. R. (2009). Indian Wedding Traditions. Valuable International Perspectives.</ref><ref>Durrani, A., & Khan, R. N. A. (2014). Women roles in weddings: ethnography of wedding rituals among Rajput in Punjab, Pakistan. Eurasian Journal of Anthropology, 5(1), 32-45.</ref> The most common sehra is made from fresh marigolds. The groom wears this throughout the day concealing his face even during the wedding ceremony. In Northern India today, grooms can be seen arriving on a horse with the sehra wrapped around the head.