Editing Veil (section)

=== 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>