David Bercot

200's: Catacombs-Rome

200's: Catacombs-Rome

200's: Catacombs-Rome

200's: Catacombs-Rome

300's: Catacombs-Rome

Middle Ages During the Middle Ages, Christian women continued to wear head coverings for modesty and prayer. These coverings were quite substantial. In fact, the traditional veil worn by Roman Catholic nuns until recent times were based on the coverings that most Christian women wore in medieval Europe.

800's: England



1100's: Europe



1200's: Europe



1300's: England



1400's: England



1400: Germany



1400's: Europe



1450: Italy



Reformation Era

Around the time of the Reformation, the cap form of head covering became popular in northern Europe in place of a hanging veil. 1500's: Europe



1500's: Europe



1520: Germany



1525: Lutheran Church Service



1530: England



1530: German Anabaptist



1535: Belgium



1560: France



1567: Belgium



1580: Netherlands



1600's and 1700's

In the sixteenth century, the cap type of covering replaced the hanging veil in western Europe and in the newly discovered Americas.



1600's: Europe



1600's: Netherlands



1620: France



1620: New England



1625: France



1600's: Netherlands - Anabaptists



1650: England



1650: Netherlands



1655: Netherlands



1660: England



1670: Europe



1750: Europe



The 1800's During the 1800's, middle and upper class women generally wore bonnets for head coverings. Sometimes these were more a matter of fashion than of modesty. However, among the common people, caps and veils were still quite common.

1800's: England



1800's: England



1800's: England



1800's: England



1800's: England



1800's: England



1800's: England



1800's: United States



1820: United States



1825: United States



1850: France



1870: England



1880: United States



1888: Brittany



1890: England



The Twentieth Century



1900: United States



1920: New York - Russian Immigrant



1929: United States



1940: Christian Women in India



1943: Lutherans



1945: Episcopalians



1948: United States - Roman Catholic Confirmation



1948: Presbyterians



1950: Canada - Hutterites



1950: Episcopalian Confirmation



1953: African American Baptists - Baptism



1954: Roman Catholic baptism (U. S.)



1955: Congregationalists



1960: Nuns





When I first saw some Mennonite women with their head coverings, I couldn't imagine why they were wearing those things on their heads. I figured it was simply some type of quaint costume.But then I read the writings of the early Christians. And then I understood why Mennonite and Amish women wear prayer veils or head coverings. I realized that it was in obedience to 1 Corinthians 11:5, which says, Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved. The early Christian women veiled their heads not only in church, but also anytime they were in public.From my later study of church history, I discovered that Christian women continued to maintain this practice through the all centuries up to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. During the nineteenth century, many Christians in the United States and western Europe began arguing that long hair constituted the only covering women needed. Others said that women only needed to wear a covering when in church. The middle class and wealthy women switched from veils and caps to ornate bonnets they wore a covering at all. Bonnets became more a matter of fashion than of modesty or obedience to 1 Corinthians 11.By the turn of the twentieth century, the ornate bonnets of the nineteenth century had given way to ladies' hats. Until the mid-century, women in Europe and America typically wore a hat or scarf in public, but they were simply following tradition and fashion without realizing that there was originally a spiritual reason behind the practice. Similarly, until about 1960, western women wore hats when in church. But the meaning behind the hat was lost.Today, Christian women in eastern churches still cover their heads in church. Some of them cover their heads all of the time. In the west, some Plymouth Brethren women still wear the prayer veil in church, as do many African American women. But usually these sisters do not wear a head covering at other times.Generally speaking, in the west today, only the Mennonite, Amish, Brethren and Hutterite women still practice wearing a head covering at all times. However, in recent years, they have been joined by thousands of Christian women from house churches and other independent congregations who have re-discovered this New Testament practice.But, as it has been said, Aa picture is worth a thousand words. So I have set forth below pictures of the Christian woman's head covering from the early Christian era to the present day.