History of the Conical Hat
"You can choose a ready guide, in some celestial voice.
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
You can choose from phantom fears, and kindness that can kill.
I will choose a path that's clear, I will choose free will."
~Neil Peart
Let us delve into WHY “Black Hat Society” was chosen.
Come, take a walk with me through the words of history. Our first stop will be short, here is the “why” for color.
By definition, “black” is the absorption of ALL colors in the visible spectrum. The CONES in our eyes perceive this as “nothing” being reflected or refracted from something. All light is absorbed by that thing (Newton’s). This is perceived as a ONENESS to me. ALL things are absorbed because all things are as one. Furthermore, I do not subscribe to any preconceived notions or prejudices forced upon society over time. With that, I am neither a Theist nor Atheist. I believe there is a little #TRUTH in ALL THINGS. Even something that only exists in thought, “is”. That which is not perceived, or does not exist in thought, “is” too.
I digress. Let us talk more about the history of this millinery success. This hat has traveled through human existence for thousands of years. The conical black hat has carried with it meanings of power, both positive and negative. Most recently, a hat of this style (conical black felt) was discovered on mummies from around 4,000 years ago with the “Subeshi Witches”, found on the northern Silk Road trade route. (Although, we now understand that those around the World who were known as “witches” often did not even cover their heads or wore simple scarves instead.)
“Moon Witch” 3000-4000 BC
Before 1000 BC, also known as the Bronze Age, priests (a title that has ALWAYS referred to “elder” , “one with knowledge” or “wise one”) would wear golden conical hats that stood almost 3 feet tall. These hats were decorated with sun and moon symbols, indicating that their wearers were star-trackers who were able to analyze the sky to study celestial bodies and predict the weather. This is not such a mystery today. Seeing the power these people commanded from others around them by simply paying attention to their environment, dogma was taking notice.
Did the “Three Wise Men” derive from here? Was a conical hat worn to the birth of this particular messiah? They did follow a star after all.
None the less, their meteorological ability, misunderstood by many, caused the priests to be referred to as “king-priests” and were thought to have magical powers. These acted as mediators between Divinity and human. As such it was also believed that they had access to a divine knowledge that enabled them to look into the future. Much of this was simply the ability to follow “cause and effect”. It is from this early use of conical hats that led to the traditional star-spangled wizard’s hat that we recognize in clothing today.
There was some thought of the Babylonian Jews at this time wearing conical hats themselves by choice. Possibly a conquered people from Iran? Scythian? Their warriors were described as wearing “conical hats” from cuneiform inscriptions found from that time. Regardless, they were forced to then wear them as a form of discrimination from the Islamic groups of Iraq. This “public identification” carried on for thousands of years for anyone connected to this hat.
Jump forward in time to the “Christ Era”.
Scythian Depiction: 600 BC
In the 6th to 10th century, also referred to as The Dark Ages (the first half of the Middle Ages from 500 to 1000 AD) not a lot of history was able to be kept. This was a very volatile time during human existence. The Roman Empire fell and a lot of writings and knowledge were lost to the ages. The collapse of the Roman Empire lead to a lack of a kingdom or any political structure. This caused the churches of the time to take control and they became the most powerful institutions in Europe. It was during this time the Church began taking elements of “heathen” culture and Old Religion to appropriate for their agenda of conquer and expand.
Turning to the 11th century, the conical hat seemed to have been morphed into use as the Mitre, an accessory vestment, by the Church. There is quite a debate about this. You can observe from various timeless Brotherhoods of Xtianity, that the conical hat remained in use. The Spaniards are the main ones that held fast to this piece of attire. Intolerance and its representation of “wrongness” continued for the hat. It began being used for those serving “penance” with the Church.
The Practitioners who walked this Path were called Penitents. Traditionally in Spain, those wearing the conical hat were known as capirotes. It was used during the times of the Spanish Inquisition as a punishment. Is it not interesting that those who colonized so much of the world, “punished” their own in this way? Bastardized as many things were from the histories of previous peoples, the condemned by that Tribunal were obliged to wear a yellow robe – saco bendito, also known as a blessed robe that covered their chest and back. along with the hat. The hat was a paper-made cone on their heads with different signs on it, alluding to the type of crime they had committed. For instance, those to be executed wore red. The were also green, white and black colors worn.
The Church’s power began to waiver again and they had to do “something” to bring it back to their grasp. One of their thinkers, whom I believe was connected to the Inquisition, began looking around for ways to do this. In 1214, The Dominican Order was established in the Catholic church. The first group on their radar was the Manicheans. For more than a thousand years, since the Roman Empire was in power, war with the Persian Empire (Middle East) which included the Manichaeans, carried on. The Manichaens were seen as representatives of a foreign power and as dangerous aliens, even though they were but a small section of Persia. Sound familiar?
The Mani had not been supporters of the Persian Empire's wars with other lands, including Rome, but that was overlooked. The Romans persecuted the Manichaeans, while Jews were also being persecuted. And without the backing of the brute power of a major state in the Middle East/Persia, Manichaeism would all but disappear in the future. They were considered “outcasts” in their own society. I wonder if they wore “conical hats”? Do you know who the Yazidi are? You should.
While this was happening, we move further into the 12th century with our hat. The Mongol Queens from the Mongol Empire founded by Genghis Khan in 1206, were wearing these conical hats too. Originating from the Mongol heartland in the Steppe of central Asia. By the late 13th century it spanned from the Pacific Ocean in the east to the Danube River and the shores of the Persian Gulf in the west. Khan’s was a competing empire for world dominance. None the less, there were no real differences in men and women’s clothing for the time but the Mongols needed to be seen from great distances, hence, the tall conical hat. This empire would not last against another… and the hat traveled.
Capirote of Spain. 1200 to current.
As the story goes, Marco Polo brought back a sample of this hat to Europe in the 14th Century. The voracity of land grabs had already begun in the World. Mother Nature was being raped and disregarded and “fashion” became more important than meaning or purpose. The women of the time began wearing a conical hat called a hennin, not as Practitioners, but as fashionistas of their time. Very much unlike the willow-withe and felt Boqta (Ku-Ku) of Mongolian Queens. This appropriation became known as “the princess hat” and was worn tilted back on the head and veiled with brightly colored fabrics.
The “witch”, a word now derived from the Old English nouns wicca with an Old English pronunciation: [ˈwɪttʃɑ], meaning 'sorcerer, male witch, warlock' and wicce, the Old English pronunciation: [ˈwɪttʃe] for 'sorceress, female witch', actually becomes murky in meaning and language after this. The “witch” hunts were now well under way. The “witches”, Babaylans, Bruxa, Hexen, Babalaô, Stregheria, and anyone else who were in the way of the Church’s dogmatic control and conquer of the world, were punished, or the attempt was made to dissuade the natural practices of the people they colonized and the indigenous were assimiliated.
Since the beginning of its blighted past, the conical hat has stood to represent those outcast by their society. This seemed more prevalent in the later half its history. Why? The perpetuation of it being “negative” began with the Church.
It is the opinion of many, the wearers of this hat were hold outs of Old Religion, Earth-Minded Folk and others at the turn of “the Christ event”. Because they did not or would not subscribe to what they were being sold, they became outcast from the forward momentum of society at that time. “Those in power”, i.e. Rome and later Europe and North America would not stand for anyone that did not conform to their forward march of greed and exploitation of Earth and “lesser humans”.
As we slipped into the 15th century, thousands were dying at the hands of those in power. It was at this time the Spanish, Magellan, was attempting to colonize the Philippines. The first tribes approached — killed Magellan. The danger of witches became a widespread public concern world wide. Urbanization and increased trade with foreign lands, along with epidemics of plague and cholera resulting from that trade, the onset of the Little Ice Age, upset feudal and religious hierarchies, ALL gave way to a convoluted mindset. “Something” had to be the cause. The was NO personal accountability amongst the colonizers. The Church began inserting their own ideologies into the indigenous cultures and villainize ancestral stories that have been held for tens of thousands of years in oral tradition. There was a widespread sense that the uncontrollable forces of change were destroying all order and moral tradition and the Church had to be in control. Persecuting witches redefined society’s moral boundaries and secured who was in agreement with the power. Egos ran unchecked. This shift lent a leg up to allowing, and almost requiring, the demoralization of Self if one did not conform or think or act like the majority in society. Differences in people, like those who were LGBTQ+, although a part of us for thousands of years, were persecuted by the Church.
While we are passing through the 15th century, let us also consider the possibility that the witch’s hat is an exaggeration of the tall, conical “dunce’s hat” that was popular in the royal courts of the time as well. Or, let us consider the tall but blunt-topped hats worn by Puritans and the Welsh, who also had separate ideas than the majority. No matter what the fashion, pointed hats were frowned upon by the Church, which now associated points with the horns of the devil to maintain its power and fear-mongered agendas.
Let us also consider, somewhere along the way, an artist took creative license and added a brim to the timeless conical hat. Why would they do this?
Brimless, conical hats had long been associated with male wizards, magicians, Jews, Mani and many other societal outcasts. And, it was a male dominated society as the shift was happening. Goya even painted witches with such hats. It is possible that an artist added a brim to make the hats more appropriate for women (according to the fashion “rules” at the time) and to better fit this agenda of forward motion and subservience of others. One theory holds that the stereotypical witch’s hat came into being in Victorian times or around the turn of the century, in illustrations of childrens’ fairy tales. The tall, black, conical hat and the ugly crone became readily identifiable symbols of wickedness, to be feared by children. Hence, more fear-mongering was created in the name of control by the Church.
On the runway. 2010
I do not feel I need to retell the rest of the history of the conical, now brimmed, black hat of the last 500 years. You should all be aware of the many “witch” trials by now. You have walked through history of the last several thousand years with me. You see where it comes from. You see why Georgia Black Hat Society, and National Black Hat Society, have the Mission Statements they do. You see, my fellow Practitioner, why I take the stances that I do and want to hold to a belief of ONENESS of all things, just as my kindred folk of the previous thousands of years have done. Not war. Not creating Shadow unnecessarily for any people. Not greed. Not driven by Ego. Not conquering my neighbors’ houses while wearing the now hijacked “black hat” of the social elite.
Harmony. Love. Unity.
THAT is what this all means to me.
More to come.
Blessings.
Reverend Richoz, RN
