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The Witch Hat: Its Origins, Symbolism, And The place It Nonetheless Haunts Us At present


They are saying that the hat makes the person. Effectively, the reality is that the extra frequent time period refers back to the garments make the person, not the hat, nevertheless it seems that there’s a small murals known as “The Hat Makes the Man,” a combined media and collage work on paper and cardboard, created by the German artist Max Ernst in 1920, so go for it.

In any case, hats are an integral a part of scary trend. Take acquainted evil characters from the previous or current. You will note that a few of them put on a hat, akin to a fedora, or one thing related. For instance, Freddy Krueger, the Leprechaun, the Invisible Man, The Babadook, the Jeepers Creepers, Artwork the Clown from the “Terrifier” motion pictures, or “The Grabber” from “The Black Cellphone”. Within the trend catalog, hats get a spot of honor. They evoke particular associations in us, together with these associated to the individual carrying it. In the event you’ve seen “Depraved,” for instance – and the author of those strains has seen this movie twice (!), although it’s a horror movie, as a result of his spouse requested it – you in all probability bear in mind probably the greatest scenes within the film, wherein Elphaba wears an unsightly witch’s hat to the ball that Galinda provides her as a “present” to make enjoyable of her. Ultimately, Galinda realizes her mistake, and the 2 develop into associates. Nevertheless, it might be too late for Elphaba, and the hat is without doubt one of the causes she went to the darkish facet.

If we return to our world, we will argue {that a} witch’s hat is without doubt one of the most typical and recognizable objects on this planet of costumes. We’ve additionally seen a powerful presence of witches’ hats in folks tales and basic movies, together with horror movies. However what are the roots of those hats? When did their connection to witches start? Is there a cause to put on them outdoors of Purim, Halloween, or no matter you’re celebrating? And naturally, the place can you purchase one?

a scary witch hat in the forest (AI)

What Does A Witch Hat Look Like?

The basic witch’s hat, as described in widespread tradition, has a simple design. The hat often is available in black and consists of two fundamental elements:

A conical crown, which often rises to a peak of a number of tens of centimeters and ends in a slim level. The crown creates an elongated and pointed form, with a dramatic and even scary component.

Large and rounded brim, with a radius that typically is about 15-20 cm from the top. The brim is usually curved upwards to some extent at its edges, to create a dramatic character.

Colour – The normal colour of witch hats is deep black, prone to symbolize the darkness and mysticism related to the determine of the witch. Right here, we have to add a small asterisk, which is that through the years, the provision of modern hats has elevated considerably, maybe because of pleasant and even horny representations of witches (which, in fact, contrasts with the picture of the previous and ugly witch from fairy tales). At present, yow will discover hats in all kinds of shades, akin to purple or darkish inexperienced, in addition to in colourful and blissful patterns. If you’d like, hats that might be extra appropriate for Galinda, the “Good Witch”, and fewer for the Depraved Witch of the West.

Uncooked materials – Creators usually use felt as the usual materials for making a witch’s hat, permitting the crown to keep up its pointed form and the brim to be steady. In cheaper variations, the hat is product of artificial materials or sturdy paper, whereas in higher-quality variations, producers use actual felt or velvet.

A Scary witch wearing a hat (AI)

The place Did The Witch Hat Come From?

The historic roots of the witch’s hat are advanced, or at least, removed from unambiguous. We assume that the basic picture of the witch with the pointed hat developed over centuries and was influenced by varied components on the non secular, social, and, in fact, cultural ranges. One cause for the confusion is that historical past is replete with pointed hats, every with its diverse context.

It’s attainable that conventional witch dressing started in China. Within the Chinese language area of Subshi, courting from the 4th to 2nd centuries BC, three mummies had been discovered, nicknamed the “Witches of Subshi”. The findings confirmed that somebody coated their hair with giant, funnel-shaped equipment product of black felt.

The story begins, in line with one other widespread view, in Europe throughout the Center Ages. In these years, pointed hats had been an ordinary merchandise of clothes, not essentially recognized with witches. Higher-class girls wore pointed hats as each a trend merchandise and a standing image. Higher-class girls used to put on, particularly from the fifteenth century, comparatively pointed hats known as “hennin”. Within the nineteenth century, one other instance was the highest hat, which was frequent and resembled a cone with a material product of silk or fabric hanging from its tip.

Based on one widespread concept, the connection between witches and pointed hats started exactly with anti-Semitism. In 1215, the Fourth Council of the Lateran – an ecumenical convention wherein the most effective bishops from the Christian world gathered – determined to order Jews to put on a head masking that might establish them. It was a pointed hat known as a “Judenhut,” which interprets to “Jewish Hat.” Jewish males had been required to put on this yellow, pointed conical hat each time they left the ghetto in medieval Europe, to differentiate them from the overall inhabitants and to humiliate themselves. The hat is related to horrible acts akin to satanic worship or black magic, which Jews had been accused of by the anti-Semites, therefore the connection to witches.

Witch items including Hat and skulls (AI)

One other concept presents a connection between witch hats and hatred of others, besides that this time the victims are the Quakers (or “Spiritual Society of Buddies”), a Christian group based in Britain within the seventeenth century and identified for pursuing peace and opposing violence, however opposing baptism into Christianity. Some believed that this minority group met with demons and practiced witchcraft. The Puritan response towards the Quakers intensified within the 18th century, a interval throughout which the determine of the witch with a pointed hat grew to become a staple of American folklore. Though there’s something that looks as if a major plot gap on this conceptthe truth that Quakers didn’t put on pointed hatssome nonetheless see a specific, extra oblique connection.

It’s attainable that witches’ hats grew out ofbeers. Ladies who brewed home-brewed beer on the market wore hats that recognized them, “girls’s hats.” Many parts inside the male beer business opposed these girls, claiming their beer was diluted or of poor high quality. Some linked beer manufacturing to working with medicinal herbs, and later additionally to concocting potions, in addition to cash, and all the things related to witches.

a sexy witch hat (AI)

Witches Start To Put on Pointed Hats

Over time, the connection between the pointed hat and witches has develop into more and more nearer. The explanation will be the exercise of the Catholic Church, which persecuted all the things that appeared uncommon. Therefore, the connection between “unconventional” clothes and non secular practices thought-about irregular, akin to witchcraft. Ladies who had been conspicuous or extraordinary of their look had been generally suspected of being witches, generally with none wrongdoing.

In lots of work and illustrations from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the illustration of witches with pointed hats grew to become more and more prevalent, and this picture grew extra acquainted. The pointed hat grew to become a logo of the “others”, girls who didn’t act in line with accepted social patterns. The witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, generally known as the “Salem Witch Trials”, are among the many most horrific within the context of witchcraft. Though historic proof suggests that ladies tried and executed usually wore “regular” clothes, all through historical past, we will see illustrations and inventive works depicting the accused carrying pointed hats.

Over time, the visible picture of a witch’s hat has permeated widespread literature, artwork, and later, cinema. Within the Center Ages, for instance, witches had been typically depicted bare and bare-headed, their lengthy hair intertwined with smoke, flames, and different parts related to witchcraft. Within the seventeenth century, woodcuts regularly featured witch hats with a comparatively commonplace form. By the 18th century, kids’s books in the UK had been more and more showing wherein the supernatural character of the witch wore a pointed hat. Folktales and legends started to depict witches with pointed hats, and the image grew to become related to them, some would say universally.

skull waring a horror witch hat (AI)

A Witch Hat Can Additionally Be Optimistic

Now we have already seen that on this planet of horror, there are quite a few objects, parts, and even dates which can be thought-about cursed by one tradition or custom however possess optimistic properties in different traditions (for instance, the quantity “13”, which is an integral a part of horror mythology). The witch’s hat additionally has, in line with some perceptions, such meanings.

In some traditions, the witch’s hat has a mystical and even optimistic that means. Such tradition assumes that the pointed hat symbolizes the connection between the individual and the cosmic forces which can be “above”, and even cosmic vitality. Thus, the one that wears this hat can get pleasure from transformations akin to non secular ascension, knowledge, and elegant information. The pointed form symbolizes the path of the thoughts and spirit upwards, in direction of hidden information. These qualities are additionally attributed to witches, though in a unfavorable approach.

The colour of the hat, which is black in line with the basic picture, additionally has a particular that means. Black will not be solely a prevalent colour, but additionally what generally symbolizes energy, mysticism, and safety from unfavorable energies. Different variations of the hats could carry completely different meanings, akin to a inexperienced witch’s hat, which is related to nature and therapeutic powers.


Corpse Bride Costumes
 

Then Got here The Wizard Of Oz

There isn’t any doubt that one of many turning factors within the illustration of witches in tradition is the novel “The Wizard of Oz”, the basic kids’s e book by Lyman Frank Baum from 1900 (which was adopted by a minimum of 13 sequels). The illustrations within the e book introduced the Depraved Witch of the West as carrying a tall, cone-shaped hat. The 1939 musical fantasy movie introduced the character of the Depraved Witch, performed by Margaret Hamilton, carrying the basic black hat, which has since develop into the definitive image of witches. Though in some unspecified time in the future Dorothy melted the witch (the black hat is without doubt one of the solely objects left of her), and though the Depraved Witch of the West was hardly talked about within the sequels, there is no such thing as a doubt that the looks right here is without doubt one of the most necessary within the accepted representations of witches, together with visually.

WICKED POSTER movie

“Depraved”, which tells the story of the Depraved Witch of the West, Elphaba, and the “good” witch Galinda – from the occasions main as much as Dorothy’s arrival in Oz to the aftermath – premiered in 2003 in San Francisco, after which on Broadway. It grew to become one of the profitable musicals in historical past, with 9 nominations for the distinguished Tony Award and three wins (Greatest Stage Design, Greatest Efficiency by a Main Actress in a Musical, and Greatest Costume Design). In 2024, John M. Cho directed the primary act of the musical right into a musical fantasy movie. The film acquired rave critiques and have become a field workplace hit, grossing over $750 million worldwide. Together with the nice visible illustration of Oz and the nice songs (did somebody say “Defying Gravity”?), the movie managed to point out the variations between Galinda (Ariana Grande, who seems to be an ideal actress) as Glinda, and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, with the inexperienced pores and skin, black clothes and at one level additionally the pointed witch’s hat.

 

In fact, Elphaba was not the one one to put on a witch’s hat within the motion pictures. Among the many beloved characters who bought such a hat, we will point out, for instance:

The wizard Gandalf from Tolkien’s works, “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit,” was featured within the Thirties, and Peter Jackson tailored them into one of the iconic movie trilogies in historical past within the early 2000s.

Professor Minerva McGonagall within the Harry Potter books (beginning in 1997), who’s, as we recall, the deputy headmistress of Hogwarts College of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the Transfiguration trainer. We must always observe that within the books, there have been a number of references to “pointed hats” as a part of the scholars’ costumes on the college; nonetheless, within the movie variations, the hats’ presence was rather more restricted.

Samantha Stephens from “Bewitched”, a comedy American sitcom from the Nineteen Sixties. The collection is a couple of witch who, after marrying a mortal, tries to dwell her life with out utilizing magic. It spawned a spin-off collection within the Nineteen Seventies and a really mediocre movie in 2005, starring Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell.

Jennifer (Victoria Lake) from “I Married a Witch” (1942), based mostly on the e book “The Passionate Witch”. This is without doubt one of the most beloved basic wild comedies, wherein additionally, you will discover a place of honor for the witch’s hat, as you may see within the official poster of the movie.

Hocus Pocus – a part of a bunch of seventeenth century witches (performed by Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy) who are resurrected by a teenage boy within the witch city of Salem, are carrying a witch hat

Laszlo’s cursed witch’s hat within the TV collection “What We Do within the Shadows”, which is product of witch pores and skin and continues to dwell and bleed to today

Shop now for Witch costumes!

Again To Actuality: When Can You Put on A Witch’s Hat?

With all due respect to Elphaba and the huge success of “Depraved,” it’s nonetheless onerous to consider that we’ll see too many sane girls strolling down the road one fantastic day carrying a witch’s hat. However, fashions change, and there are some silly tendencies today, so who is aware of?

So long as witches’ hats aren’t a part of on a regular basis trend tendencies, they’re nonetheless principally reserved for particular events. These events are, in fact, costume-based holidays (principally Halloween), particular occasions (e.g., theater occasions or film witch marathons), or just imitating current characters, as many ladies select to do at this time on social media to get likes or presents for collaborations that they will redeem in change for a coupon code.

In the event you look carefully, you may see representations of witches’ hats outdoors of those particular days as nicely. Some declare that ladies (nicely, nicely, and perhaps males too) preferring different trend select a witch’s hat. It appears that evidently a lot of them will like the trendy and classy fashions, which are available a wide range of colours and supplies, somewhat than simply the basic black and menacing hat. Within the Gothic and different communities, the witch’s hat holds a extra central place, maybe even serving as an expression of private and cultural identification somewhat than only a costume.

In fact, within the fields of leisure and artwork, the place of witches’ hats could be very outstanding in theater productions, movies, performs, and artwork occasions. Though I personally haven’t encountered such a case, there are instructional frameworks that introduce witches’ hats into the curriculum, as a part of role-playing video games, tales, and different tutorial actions. The hats can train younger folks about necessary phrases, akin to accepting variations (if I placed on the educator’s hat for a second), and, in fact, additionally stimulate kids’s creativeness – hopefully in a barely friendlier approach than the photographs we ready to accompany this text.

a scary witch's hat (AI)

The place To Purchase A Witch Hat?

You don’t must go to Oz or be a roommate with Ariana Grande to discover a witch hat. At present, you may simply discover all kinds of hats to purchase at completely different worth factors, that are typically very inexpensive. You should purchase a witch hat for ladies, in addition to one appropriate for older girls who need to put collectively an attractive witch costume. One other instance is the scale, with a small witch hat in contrast to people who are available a lot bigger dimensions. The selection is actually a matter of favor.

A frequent place to purchase the hats bodily is in costume shops of varied sorts. These shops are open a lot of the yr, however improve the choice of objects (and hats) for particular occasions. Within the weeks main as much as Halloween, it’s also possible to discover a witch hat in toy shops, inventory shops, supermarkets, trend shops, and extra.

A Fashion witch hat (AI)

On-line, the range is even broader and extra accessible. You’ll find a whole bunch of fashions of witch hats, starting from easy to extra luxurious and particular. You possibly can order such hats with the press of a button, with supply to the doorstep (or not less than, the supply level you select).

Suppose you want a hat for a particular occasion or vacation. In that case, it’s important to not wait till the final minute, particularly within the present actuality, the place deliveries to many nations are generally halted for weeks or take a very long time resulting from varied causes.

Listed here are the main shops to purchase witch hats and different associated objects, as much as the extent of a whole costume:

Halloween Costumes

AliExpress

Amazon

Etsy

An alternative choice is to order a custom-made hat from artists who’re engaged in handmade work. These hats are costlier, however they provide full customization choices by way of colour, design, materials, dimension, and extra. In case you are in search of a high quality hat that nobody else (nearly) has, this may very well be a profitable selection.

You may also discover attention-grabbing, well-designed hats or hats of some historic significance in accent and different trend shops, classic shops, and artwork stalls (not essentially hats that belonged to a particular witch, in fact, however hats from a specific interval or area).

How To Make A Witch Hat

Wish to spark your artistic facet, have enjoyable with the children, and avoid wasting cash? You possibly can strive making a witch hat your self (with out turning into a witch, proper?), and it’s even a comparatively easy job typically.

You’ll find fairly a number of tutorials on-line that designate the best way to make a witch’s hat, step-by-step, for instance:

A 4-minute video that exhibits the best way to make a witch’s hat out of paper and some different pretty fundamental provides:

 

An 8-minute video from SKS Props, which can train you the best way to make a witch’s hat out of froth

 

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