Turbans of the World
Sikh men and
women wear a cotton turban that serves as a meditation aid, and to cover their
long hair, which is never cut out of respect for God's creation. In North
America, Sikhs are the only religious group that wear turbans. Some Sikh men
comb out their facial hair and then twist and tuck it up into their turbans
along with the hair from their heads. Sikhism originated in northern India and
Pakistan in the 15th century and is one of the youngest of the world's
monotheistic religions. There are an estimated 20 million Sikhs in the world,
with some 2 million spread throughout North America, Western Europe and the
former British colonies. Sikhs have been an established spiritual community in
the United States for 150 years.
Sikh Woman
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Sikh Man
Muslim
religious elders from Yemen, often wear
a turban wrapped around a cap known in Arabic
as a kalansuwa. These caps can be spherical or
conical, colorful or solid white, and their styles
vary widely from region to region. Likewise, the
color of the turban wrapped around the kalansuwa
varies. White is thought by some Muslims to be the
holiest turban color, based on legends that the
prophet Mohammed wore a white turban. Not all
Muslims wear turbans. In fact, few wear them in
the West, and in major cosmopolitan centers
around the Muslim world, turbans are seen by
some as passé.
Afghan men
wear a variety of turbans, and even
within the Taliban, the strict Islamic government
that controls much of the country, there are
differences in the way men cover their heads.
For example, he may wear a very long turban…
perhaps two twined together…with one end hanging
loose over his shoulder. The Taliban ambassador
to Afghanistan, on the other hand, favors a solid
black turban tied above his forehead. And some
men in Afghanistan do not wear turbans at all,
but rather a distinctive Afghan hat.
Muslim
Cleric
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Afghan Man
Iranian leaders
wear black or white turbans wrapped
in the flat, circular style as is the case of the Iranian
supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Greek word
turban is thought to have originated in biblical times. The
turban is called a sarband or a dulband among Persians
and in some areas of Iran.
Indian men
sometimes wear turbans to signify their
class, caste, profession or religious affiliation…and
turbans in India can be very elaborate. However,
turbans made out of fancy woven cloths and
festooned with jewels are not unique to India. As far
away as Turkey, men have used the headgear to
demonstrate their wealth and power.
Iranian
Cleric
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Indian Aristocrat
The kaffiyeh is not technically a turban. It is really
a rectangular piece of cloth, folded diagonally and
then draped over the head…not wound like a
turban. Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, has
made the kaffiyeh famous in recent times. However,
the kaffiyeh is not solely Palestinian. Men in Jordan,
Saudi Arabia and the Arab Persian Gulf states wear
kaffiyehs in colors and styles that are particular to
their region. Jordanians, for example, wear a red
and white kaffiyeh, while Palestinians wear a black
and white one. And a man from Saudi Arabia would
likely drape his kaffiyeh differently than a man from
Jordan. The black cord that holds the kaffiyeh on
one's head is called an ekal.
Desert peoples
of Africa and elsewhere have long
used the turban to keep sand out of their faces.
Members of nomadic tribes have also used turbans to disguise
themselves. And sometimes, the color of
a person's turban can be used to identify his tribal
affiliation from a distance across the dunes. In some
parts of North Africa many men wear a turban of a
very light blue color.
Yasser
Arafat
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Nigerian Tribesman
| Korean
| Simplified Chinese
