Friday, September 6, 2013

An Overview Of The Various Turbans For Men

By Kate McMahon


Peaked turbans for men are worn by Sikhs for the purpose of covering their long hair, which is never shaved due to the respect they have for Gods creation. Devout Sikh men also do not cut down their beards. Instead, most of them decide to comb out their beard, twist and tuck it up within their turbans together with their long hair.

Often, Muslim religious leaders wear turbans wrapped around caps referred to in Arabic as Kalansuwa. These caps can be colorful or solid white, spherical or conical, with their styles widely varying from area to area. In addition, the colors of the turban wrapped around the Kalansuwa also vary. Some Muslims consider white the holiest turban color, given that it was the color of the turban donned by Prophet Muhammad.

Green is also favored by some Muslims as it is considered by to be the color denoting a paradise. However, not all Muslims wear a turban. As a matter of fact, few wear them in western countries, and they are seen as a passer by some in the main cosmopolitan centers across the Muslim world.

Afghan men wear various turbans, with differences seen in the manner in which they cover heads with them. A good example is the Taliban, the strict Islamic government that runs most of the nation. Their members usually wear a very long turban, sometimes two of them intertwined together and one end hanging loosely over a shoulder. Taliban ambassadors to Afghanistan on the other hand prefer a solid black turban wrapped over their foreheads.

Some afghan men rarely wear a turban at all, choosing instead some rather distinctive afghan hats. Iran leaders wear either black or white turbans folded in a flat circular style. It is thought that the word turban has its origins from the Persians who lived in the area now known as Iran, whose term for it was a dulband.

In some instances, Indian men wear a turban to denote their religious affiliation, profession, class or caste. This headpiece can be quite intricate in India. However, the headgears manufactured using woven fancy clothing and embellished with jewels are not just an Indian specialty. Men have used these headgears to show off their wealth and power as further away as Turkey.

The kaffiyeh is not actually considered a turban. In the real sense, it is a rectangular clothing piece folded diagonally and then adorned across the head, rather than being wrapped the way a turban is done. The kaffiyeh has been popularized in recent times by Yasser Arafat, the late Palestinian leader. However, this headpiece not exclusively restricted to Palestinians. Men in the Persian Gulf states, Jordan and Saudi Arabia wear kaffiyehs in colors and styles matching the regions fashion statements. Jordanians for example wear a white and black kaffiyeh while Palestinians prefer multicolored ones. Men in Saudi Arabia most likely wear their headpieces in a manner that is different from Jordanians.

People living in deserts have for a long time used turbans for men to prevent sand from getting into their faces. Nomadic communities and their tribesmen also use them as a form of disguise. The color of men's headgear can also signify their tribal affiliation from a long distance.




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