Wednesday, 28 August 2013

Significance Of The Head Turban

By Amanda Baird


The head turban consists of continuous wrapping of clothing usually mounted on hair. Hair gears are regarded differently in the various parts of the world as they have varied uses on the wearer. The culture, medical grounds or religion of a person dictates on how he wears it. However, the wearer is required to maintain cleanliness of the hair by preserving it and not exposing it to dust and dirt.

For the Sikhs, these scarves are seen as part of the skull wear by people from the community. They cover their heads suing the cloth in a bid to respect their beliefs and cultural practices. The practice symbolizes their respect towards their creator. They must wear it as they visit the temple because the place is sacred and must be respected. They also believe that God id everywhere so they have to wrap the scarves all the time.

It stands as recognition of teachings that Guru gave to his followers. It represents sovereignty, self respect and dedication on Sikhism. Sikhs regard it sacred symbol as it promotes equality in the religion. Hair scarves area mostly worn by men of Sikh religion hence acts as an identity feature. They do not cut their hair since it is going against the nature of creation.

In the Islam community, religious leaders must wrap their heads with these scarves. The caps are used to contain hair because of their shapes. They have a conical shape and are mostly white in color. They come in various sizes to suit the needs of each wearer. The Islam community wears white scarves because they regard the color as holly. Green on the other hand is regarded to as a paradise color.

Islam governed countries do require men to have scarves for national dress. They prescribe different ways in which scarves are worn so as to avoid misuse by non Muslim nationals. Taliban members wear long scarves intertwined and mostly having loose ends on them. The hanging piece rests on his shoulder. Governments do also provide hats as alternatives to hair scarves.

North African tribes residing along the Saharan desert cover themselves from dust and dirt by using scarves. In the desert, it is normally windy. Tribesmen disguise themselves by covering their faces with scarves and hence they are not easily traceable by their enemies. A color used by one, makes the identity of a tribe that he hails from known.

Indian citizens on the other hand use turbans to segregate members based on their class in the society, their profession and caste. They wear them to signify wealth and power. Political leaders warp them to signify power. The mode of wrapping them is determined by the type of scarf. Styles and colors also vary from one region to another.

Jamaica has a Rastafarian movement that ties head turban on hairs. They are characterized by long dreadlocks that need to be preserved from dirt. The movement requires that, in their journey to Zion, hair should be clean. Hair gears are hand knitted and come in four main colors. Red, green, gold mostly knitted in that order and then followed by black. Patterns and embroideries made are based on taste of a user.




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