Did "Fez Hats" really originate in Fez?

[k5125]

Which kind of arabs where these things anyway? Is it a north african thing?

I have also seen turkish people where these in some old photographs. But nobody seems to wear these anymore. What happened?

[Circe]

I know it was very popular in the Ottoman empire, I think it was even a part of the official uniform in 19th century.
Some people in the Balkans used it too.

I don't know where it originated, though, but will try to find out

[Circe]

The fez, also spelled fes, is a particular style of hat that originated from the city of Fez in Morocco. The fez is also known as the tarboosh (Persian sar-boosh for "head cover") and checheya.

The modern fez is made of felt, shaped roughtly like a canister or truncated cone, tapering slightly towards the top where there is a tassel fixed to the middle of the flat top. This sort of fez is often worn by members of the Shriners fraternal organization and also became the trademark of British entertainer Tommy Cooper.

About AD 980, the haj was interrupted, and the pilgrimages of those living west of the Nile were directed to Fez as to the Holy City. A manufacturer in Fez supplied a new style of headdress that started to be widely used by the students of a particular school. The hat became a mark of intelligence, and came to worn all along the northern shores of Africa. Fezzes of this original form, still worn in Tunisia, Tripoli and Morocco, are two or three times longer than the ones most people think of, and have much longer and heavier silk tassels.

In 1826 Sultan Mahmud II of the Ottoman Empire was looking to break with tradition and update the official dress of the empire's civil service. He originally looked at a three-cornered hat of European descent, but his advisors pointed out that the three corners represented the holy trinity and he reconsidered. A shipment of fezzes had recently arrived from Tunisia, so they were selected instead. It was considered the special badge of a Turkish subject and all, even if not Muslims, were obliged to wear it. Women wore fezzes as well, but the women's were smaller and without tassels. The transition to the fez was resisted for some time, but by the end of the century Turkey was swept up by a "Europeanization" wave and the fez became a loved symbol of nationality.

Fez formerly had a monopoly on the manufacture of the hat because it controlled the source of the kermes beetle used to color them. However the discovery of synthetic aniline dyes in the 19th century allowed the manufacture to spread to France, Germany and Austria. At the beginning of the 20th century Austria (factory in Strakonice) was the main center of the fez industry. The countries where the fezzes were extensively worn did not have a single fez manufacturing plant.

Kemal Atatürk, leader of the Young Turks, felt the fez was backward and dressed only in western, notably British, suits and styles. On August 30, 1925 he banned the fez in an attempt to push Turkey into the "modern world". This effort was resisted with some fury, to the point that several riots broke out and fezzes were seized as illegal contraband. By the 1930s the fez was almost gone in Turkey when one last attempt was made to re-introduce it by a group who planned to overthrow Atatürk. This ended with a total of some nine people shot down the streets of Menemen, Turkey.

A Wikipedia article

[k5125]

VERY informative! THANKS!

Thats pretty crazy they were banned in Turkey!

[Circe]

You're welcome

Banning indeed was strange... but you know... Turkey is a land of wonders ;D

[iberomaurusian]

To my knowledge, that kind if hats is popular among tunusians who were occupied for a long period of time and hence culturally influenced by Turks.
Ex-president of tunisia (Bourguiba)

In morocco, only the kids put it during their circoncision.

I'm quite certain its not a north african invention.

[iberomaurusian]

Wow! That article says chechia was brought to NWA by the iberian moors:

Excerpt: ' Apparue en Tunisie au XVIIème siècle, la chéchia a été importée d'Espagne par les morisques, nom donné aux musulmans de la péninsule ibérique convertis de force au catholicisme puis expulsés au cours des siècles après la prise en 1492 de Grenade, fief des "Andalous", qui trouvèrent en Tunisie une seconde patrie .Ils y amenèrent l'artisanat de la chéchia.'

It seems that even adult moroccans wear it as part of a traditional wear ...(Two princes of Morocco).

Its not berber, anyway!

[asdf]

Banning indeed was strange... but you know... Turkey is a land of wonders

Well, an Englishman invented the kilt, then the English banned it, after which it of course became immediately popular in Scotland.

[yigal]

i seem to have seen old pics of jews throut the mid east it seems to have been a part of relgious and rabbinical wear not just in north africa but all thru egypt and iraq,this tarbush was usually black and smaller tho still with a tassel

[k5125]

Here is a pic of Egyptian Jews back in the day wearing Fez Hats. The bearded man in the center with glasses is Iraqi. (Ovadiah Yosef)

www.hsje.org/diaspora/images/Synagogues/Ahabagr.gif