[Ansteorra] Veiling

Coblaith Muimnech Coblaith at sbcglobal.net
Tue Mar 3 16:10:38 PST 2009


Lady Grainne Kathleen NicPadraig MacDaniel  wrote:
> Does anyone know if women in our period were known to be veiled at all 
> times for religious reasons, as opposed to fashion reasons?

You can't get an accurate answer to this question.  There is *nothing* 
that was done everywhere, everywhen throughout Europe and across the 
entire millennium that makes up the S.C.A.'s core period.  (Well, 
except for things like breathing.)  Religion, like fashion, changes 
over time and differs from place to place.  Reforms make people abandon 
practices they perceive as excessive, likely to distract from more 
important issues, or the result of someone's misinterpretation of their 
sacred texts, or adopt practices they consider pious, reflective of 
deeper truths, or part of an older, purer form of worship.  What was 
once considered conservative becomes heretical.  What was once 
considered insane becomes common practice.

If you want to know whether women in the places, times, and cultures 
from which you draw the clothing you wear at events wore veils, you 
should be able to research that, or even to get an answer here from 
someone else who's already done so.  But you'll have to settle on the 
details first.  Do you want to know what was current among, say, 
upper-class women in 13th-century Seville, or farmwives in 15th-century 
Bavaria?  Ask a more precise question, and it will become possible to 
get an accurate answer (backed up by details, facts, and images).


Coblaith Muimnech
<mailto:Coblaith at sbcglobal.net>




More information about the Ansteorra mailing list