A king's hat is a crown and a symbol of supremacy and dominance. There is a precursor to the crown - a broadband called a diadem. Dominance comes in the form of authority and legitimacy. Whatever the King says, goes.
But what about the rest of the hats of the world? Go way back in the time machine to find out that they were religious or ceremonial head coverings. Like the King's crown, they conveyed social status and military rank. So hats have always represented authority and power.
Then there are all kinds of customs of submission - the Christian tradition of men removing hats and women must keep their heads covered - both signs of submission and respect. And what about the U.S. military custom of removing all military hats during the National Anthem? That's the U.S. Flag Code - not a law, but a custom.
Then there's when everything changed - the baseball cap. Complex structures have been replaced entirely. I can't think of the last time I saw a man with a structured felt hat. There's the wonderful hat store in Jordan with them, but not on anyone's head. I expect my generation is the cause of this. One article is titled: A sadly brief history of hat wearing in 20th Century Britain. Another is: Why Did Men Stop Wearing Hats? There likely isn't much of a history of hats after 1990 other than the snapback hat. It seems to be here for a long time. Like t-shirts, isn't it?
Here's another Arbutus trunk picture. That colour is so amazing.
There are various reasons for wearing a hat. We had the weather reason yesterday. But we could wear hats for ceremonial reasons, religious, safety or fashion. Social status was an important determinant in hats in the Middle Ages. Status increased as the height of the hat increased.
Hats communicated visually - and at a distance. They clearly indicated what status, what type of work, how important a person was, all kinds of things. Think of the headwear of the Roman Catholic church and its complications. Women were required to wear chapel veils to Mass while men were required to remove their headwear. So many rules for what was on the head.
I wondered about hats - a bellboy appeared in my dream last night. Bellboy hats seem particularly demeaning to me. Is that the case?
It is part of the uniform of a 'bellhop' The bell-boy hat is based in the 19th century military drummer boy's cap. This hat has a long history in the military.
Similar to me are the forage caps - also peakless caps in the military. They were considered undress, fatigue or working headwear.
And what about sailor hats? They seem close to bellboy hats. I looked at pictures of them. They still have a brim, which seems to have more status. Even the dixie cup hat of the U.S. shows a 'peaked' sort of edge.
Back to our bellboy. In comparison, doormen had peaked hats, wore special coats and even the buttons could distinguish which hotel they worked at. Quite a lot was said by the hotel right at the door.
Let's see what our weather brings us today. Yesterday, I cooked dinner on the stove in the dark due to a power outage. Today's advisory has freezing drizzle, fog, wind, and rain in the evening. Something of everything today.
