What is a veil?

A veil is an article of clothing, used almost exclusively by the woman, to cover the head or face. One view is that as a religious item, it is intended to show honor to an object or space. The actual socio-cultural, psychological, and socio-sexual functions of veils have not been studied extensively. These type of functions, however, most likely includes the maintenance of social distance and the communication of social status and cultural identity.

In Mesopotamia, the region centered in present-day Iraq near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, a veil was a rectangular piece of cloth woven of linen, wool, or cotton and worn by women to hide their faces from public view. While the veils worn by the wealthiest women could be beautiful, veils were not worn for fashionable reasons alone. Veils were one of the first legally enforced garments.

In the 13^th Century B.C., Assyrian law dictated that wives, daughters, and widows must wear a veil, but prostitutes and slave girls were forbidden to wear a veil. The veil thus served as a way of protecting a father or husband's interest in his daughter or wife. The alluring face of a married or marriageable woman could not tempt men from beneath a veil. Wives, daughters, and widows would be severely punished for not covering their faces in public. Those caught wearing their veil illegally could be flogged, have pitch poured on their heads, or their ears cut off. But punishments also extended to male observers. If a man recognized a prostitute or slave woman wearing a veil and did not report her to an authority, he could be publicly flogged, mutilated (having his hand chopped off, for example), his ears pierced and a cord run through them and tied behind his back, and “He shall do labor of the king for one full month.” In Ancient times, even to pagans, the veil was apparently a very serious piece of clothing.

Does anyone wear the veil anymore?

The answer is yes, the tradition of veiling continues into the twenty-first century in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. The headcovering, at least during worship services, is still required in a few Protestant denominations and among the more traditional Catholics. Many of the Anabaptist denominations, like the Amish, some Mennonites, the Old German Baptist, and the Hutterites headcover. Many of the Apostolic and Pentecostal, the Plymouth Brethren, and many of the Dutch Reformed churches also headcover. The Muslim religion encourages the use of veils by women. Modern-day women who follow Islam customarily wear veils, and some countries, such as Saudi Arabia, have Muslim governments that enforce laws concerning women wearing veils.

For many centuries, until around 1175, Anglo-Saxon and then Anglo-Norman women, with the exception of young unmarried girls, wore veils that entirely covered their hair, and often their necks up to their chins. This type of veil is most commonly known as a wimple. Only in the Tudor period of England (begun in 1485), when hoods became increasingly popular, did veils of this type become less common.

In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam the concept of covering the head is or was associated with propriety. All traditional depictions of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Christ, show her veiled. Veiling was a common practice with church-going women until the 1960s, and a number of very traditional churches retain the custom. The wearing of various forms of the Muslim veil has provoked controversy in the West. In India, Hindu women veil for traditional purposes, it is custom in rural areas to veil in front of male elders. This veil is called the ghoonghat.

What does the veil mean?

For those in Islam, the women wear the veil (or hijab) for modesty and privacy. For the modern Western bride, it symbolizes virginity to others on her wedding day. To the catholic nun, it is for piety. To a Jewish woman, the veil (or tichel) is a symbol of marriage and devotion to her husband.

There are many reasons Christians wear the veil. To me, and I hope to other Christian women who still wear the veil, it is firstly a visible symbol of acceptance of God's order of authority. Secondly the veil is worn to both honor Christ and man. Thirdly, it is worn for protection that is referred to in I Corinthians 11:10. Though woman is created "the weaker vessel" (I Peter 3:7), and under the authority of man, her acceptance of God's headship order gives appropriate signals to the angels. Finally, for me, I wear the veil for personal reasons as well. The veil helps to remind me, and those around me, that I am a servant of Christ. In this way I am also protected from evil.

Thoughts from Ecclesiastes 5

Ecclesiastes five tells us how man's outward and secular life is unable to secure happiness and satisfaction--but can these be found in popular religion? The chapter lists out exercises of strict religious rules to be observed when serving God.

We must be careful of our conduct, to remember what we are about, and whither we are going.

When we are ignorant and without knowledge, it is better to be silent than to do any evil from our ignorance. Those who don't knwo how to worship God  heartily and propery, and thinging to please him with their formal acts of decotion, fall into a grievous sin.

We should weigh well our wishes, arrange them discreetly, ponder whether they are such as we can rightly make subjects of petition, before we lay them in words before the Lord. Let your words always be few in the presence of God, according as it is proper.

It is good to use the common blessings which God bestows with thankfulness and contentment. These temporal blessings are God's gifts, and aren't to be considered as the natural and assured result of man's own exertion. Man, indeed, must labor, but God giveth the increase. This calm enjoyments is allotted to man by God, and nothing more must be expected. These are gifts from God, a great and special bounty from a loving and gracious God. The man who has learned the lesson of calm enjoyment does not concern himself with the shortness, uncertainty, or possible trouble of life. And the man passes a calm and contented life, because God shows that he is pleased with him by the tranquil joy shed over his heart.

How Much Are We to Submit to Our Husbands?

Ephesians 5 provides insight into what Christ has done for the family. He has made of marriage the choice symbol of his own relation to the Church, and so family life is lifted into a Divine and spiritual light. The consideration of Christ for his people regulates the consideration husband should show to wife; and the loyalty of Christ's people to their Master indicates the loyalty the wife should show to her husband. Husbands and wives thus own to Christ the purification of their relations and the sanctification of the home!

If Paul would summon husbands up tot he heights of consecration by the example of Christ, he would also summon sizes up to a corresponding return of reverential devotion. The Church, in her love and obedience to Christ, is the pattern of wifely devotion. Now, this leads us to consider how Christ rules in his Christ. It is not an inconsiderate despotism, but an intelligent, considerate rule of love. His wishes are expressed with infinite tenderness. There is no fury in his commandments. The Church feels and find that they are not grievous. And so believers are loyal to the Lord from the heart. Noting is so delightful as to obey him. Suppose, the, that such a spirit characterized the wife's relations to her husband that she say in his every expressed wish the outcome of love, and obeyed him the the belief that obedience was her privilege as well as duty,--what Edenic homes men and women would posses on earth!

Though Christianity emancipates and elevates woman, it does not release her for the duty of subjection (compare I Peter 3:1-6). The relation to the husband is intensified in order to enforce the duty. Let there be a subjection in the case parallel to that in the other, for such is the Divine will and purpose. Any subjection due to the husband must be modified by what is due to God, for as the husband may not require for himself, so the wife may not require for himself, so the wife may not give to him, what is God's: God's will is paramount over all. Of the 3 wills that may be in collision, viz., God's, the husband's, and the wife's--the duty of the wife is to take them in this order, having regard first to God's, next to her husband's, and last to her own.