CHRISTIAN DRESS: colonisation, female restriction, and forming new inclusive ways of spirituality
INTRODUCTION
The world as we know it and many of our perceptions of how humanity works has been largely shaped by the major religions that came into existence. One of them, currently having the most adepts, being Christianity.
This essay will analyse how Christianity has attempted to control women’s bodies through history as well as erasing and converting indigenous communities.
In order to better understand these themes, the first chapter will cover the meaning of dress in religion and its role in defining status, standards, and social norms, as well as differentiating one religion from the other. In analysing these themes, the essay will start by examining the meaning of dress in different cultures and draw parallels between practices. The Christian views on dress will also be discussed, along with its vision and morals. The second chapter will dissect the role of women's bodies and how dress was used as a tool to control. We will look at the attempts of banishing the ritualistic garments of Indigenous people with the intent of colonisation and culture erasure in the third chapter. Last, the essay will aim to show how alternative practices have been co existing with oppressive religious groups and prove that spirituality can also be an inclusive and accepting practice.
The primary research used in this essay will further demonstrate the arguments brought throughout the chapters with a detailed survey on people’s thoughts on Christianity, the personal relationship with religion and the use of social media in the rise of a spiritual youth movement. This will include anonymous quotes received through the medium of the survey that prove the arguments in this essay on a personal level. The purpose of the quotes is adding a deeper level of complexity and understanding in the modern psyche of the collective on the matters discussed. The survey will also plan to demonstrate the impact of religious oppression and how it can still be felt in our society nowadays by capturing the reaction of the participants. The survey was carried in an ethical way, with the consent of the participants being informed on the purpose of the questions asked and how their answers will be used further.
CHAPTER 1:
RELIGION AND DRESS
Ritualistic dress, apart from enhancing spiritual practices and emphasising values and traditions, is supposed to differentiate one religion from another as well as distinguish power structures, make gender distinctions, implement ideas of modesty, and reinforce group identity.
The feel, smell, sound, and movement are senses that are embedded in dress and highlighted in each religious rite in order to transport the believer in a divinatory space. Some of these accessories include but not limited to jewellery that glows, jingles and rings, to the movement, flow of the fabric, rustle, swish and shine, these elements contribute not only to the religious life of the wearer but also their routines as a believer. These might vary between faith considering a more monochrome and modest approach to dress in contrast with another that uses colourful, intricate patterns and embellishments with voluminous shapes. Religious dress could even be taken to extremes on either side by either liberating the body from any form of dress and covering the naked figure only with paint and jewellery or hiding it under total coverage. Apart from the enhancement of the senses though the means of dress, it also plays an important role in differentiating hierarchies within itself as well as other beliefs.
As we can observe dress is a complex tool used within all religions to contour belief and be used as an identifier with a certain faith. Therefore, to be able to recognise the impact that Christianity had on asserting its dominance over other cultures and beliefs, as well as taking control over women’s bodies throughout history, is important to first understand the diversity of dress within spirituality as practiced in various civilisations around the world.
Christianity and dress
Christian use of dress has mainly three functions: to show hierarchy and define power structures, to highlight modesty and repress any forms of sexuality, especially in women and to differentiate itself from non-believers, or heretics, and pose itself as the one true dominant religion.
As Christianity rose in popularity and expanded to various parts of the world - today being the predominant religion (nearly one-third or 32.8% of the world's population identify as Christians, according to the 2019 study conducted by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity (CSGC) at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) - so did its values and beliefs, having a direct consequence on morality, structures of powers, political systems and social hierarchies, among many others.
By implementing rules, morals and codes of dress, Christianity successfully managed to convert polytheists to a faith that has only one powerful self-proclaimed omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent god.
In the early days of Christianity, clothing was imperative to be modest and to only demonstrate functionality, warmth, and bodily coverage, in contrast to the other pagan colourful and complex forms of dress. As Humme (2013) argues "fancy clothes were though to contrast adversely to the simple attire of the truly spiritual man" and "followers of Christ would wear clothing for decency and warmth rather than show".
Some of the most pious adepts would even take drastic measures to assure they remain holy and untouched by sin and the devil. Some of these measures would imply self-punitive practices through strapped and tightened dress, metal chains fastened around the waist so tight that it would penetrate the skin or self-flagellation using ropes, all in the name of Christ.
Contrasting these practices and the modest way of dressing, the holiest designated man of the church, The Pope, should have to obey this theory and be seen as an example for his adepts, showing humility and wearing strictly functional clothing, thing that does not happen. Throughout its history, the Roman Catholic Church, has shown its hierarchical nature by overt display of rich ecclesiastical vestments through: "expensive fabrics such as silk, furs such as ermine and, in some centuries, precious gems" (Humme, 2019). This clothing exception that only the high rank male body within the church was entitled to, shows not only the privilege of male focus and power but also a classist view over minorities.
CHAPTER II:
SEXUALITY AND FEMALE BODIES
Looking back at the women's role in ancient society, we can see them as being active members and often taking important positions as healers, herbalist, often specialised in poetry or textiles. With the rise of Christianity, the woman’s function in their communities was reduced to bearing children and serve their husbands with duties around the household. Titus 2:3-5: "They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled."
Three archetypes of womanhood
We are not going to assume that the world was not a misogynistic place from before Christianity but once its rise we can see how women are stripped of their last drop of power and independence. This gradual but drastic change was perpetuated with the help of the three main archetypes that all women were reduced to: Eve (the scapegoat), Magdalene (the whore) and Virgin Mary (the Madonna).
After eating from the tree of knowledge, Adam and Eve could not distinguish wrong from right and had to be abolished from paradise. That is when they realised, they were naked and started being ashamed of their own bodies, looking to cover themselves. This is, according to the bible the first time when people thought of what we now know today as clothes.
Eve was considered even more sinful because of pursuing Adam to sin with her. As a result women had to bear the punishment of their wrongdoing, becoming the classic scapegoat. From then forward women were blamed for the fall of humankind. In terms of dress, women had to only be seen in modest clothing that reflect their lower status in society. Tertullian: "You persuaded him whom the devil dared not attack directly. Because of you the son of God had to die. You should always go dressed in mourning and in rags."
With the birth of Jesus, the church created the archetype of the virgin mother, giving women an unattainable ideal of having children as well as maintaining the virgin’s purity. In the portrayal of Virgin Mary, there is a lot of emphasis on her clothing that would always reinforce her modesty and piety. In the iconic "Madonna and Child" painting, made in the 5th century by Pontormo, the painter portrays her values through the colour of the clothing she wears. As Fuchs (2015) notices: "the blue of her cloak has been interpreted to represent the Virgin’s purity, symbolize the skies, and label her as an empress, for blue was associated with Byzantine royalty. Her shirt’s red colour signifies love, passion, and devotion—all traits connected with motherhood and exemplified by Mary’s presence at the Crucifixion."
We know that the method of conceiving the son of God is physically impossible. Many women chose to remain virgins and make Jesus their "husband" by serving the church and becoming nuns, where they would pledge obedience, stability and chastity or become mothers and take care of the children. Being one or the other but never both. Because of this incapability you can never see the nuns wearing the glorious colours of Mother Mary. To add to the complexity of the message that stays behind the nuns clothing, it can be analysed from the perspective of male dominance and clothing. To develop on the earlier argument of male power to which the rules do not apply, we must only look at the nuns’ garments and analyse the clear differences between the genders that is an indicator of power and structure. The nuns’ garments are much more modest, being usually black with a bit of white, lacking entirely the abundance of the male vestments. This difference clearly portrays the low status of religious women.
On the opposite spectrum we have, Mary Magdalene, the prostitute that repented and was forgiven by Jesus. Mary Magdalene it’s a cautionary tale as well as a chance for redemption once giving up her sinful ways. Clothes, again, play a great importance in portraying Magdalene's vindication and can be seen in Paolo Veronese (1528-1588) 'The Conversion of Mary' painting. Joustra (2020) highlights the attention to detail in the painting: "to the extent of the fine linen gown trimmed with gold and studded with pearls. Mary's rapture is palpable as she stares up at Christ." Here we can see Mary Magdalene ready to give away her riches and old ways for Jesus’s forgiveness.
Figure 3. Veronese, P (1528-1588), The Conversion of Mary Magdalene, about 1548, Oil on canvas, 117.5 x 163.5 cm. The National Gallery, London
Eve's clueless nakedness, Magdalene's sinful luxurious clothing and Mary's pure and royal colours are pillars that formed Christian women’s pious mentality and managed to convince them of their impure nature and their duty of achieving the impossible task of erasing their prenatal sins and become holy.
Repressed sexuality
The female sexuality played a big role in the development of dress codes after the popularisation of Christianity. If before sex and revealing clothing wasn't considered a taboo or something to be avoided, the church created a big fear around the subject, trying to reduce it to just a way of reproduction the human species, without gaining any pleasure from it. In this context as well, women were the scapegoats, being thought that the female sexuality had seductive powers over men. As Tang (1999) remarks "She is one of the damned - damned in fact by her own fallen female sexuality. Neither available nor desirable, she is the path to Hell." This portrayal was established since The Fall. Eve always being shown as very attractive only to underline her treacherous nature. The church made it very clear that holiness was directly correlated with women's abstinence from sex. Nevertheless, Christianity obsession made it even more desirable and offered the people who were disobeying, the power of subversion. "People who break the rules and get away with it are exercising power" (Tang, 1999).
The female sexuality craze was amplified by the Witch Hunts in the 17th Century. The church, in order to gain power and control over women, had blamed the plagues and misfortune of villages on witches, therefore starting what was to be one of the biggest massacres of women around the world. This practice can still be seen in countries with prevalent hot-spots in parts of India, Papua New Guinea, Amazonia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
One of the main characteristics of a witch, according to Malleus Maleficarum was her hyper-sexuality with which she would seduce men and then sell their souls to the devil. According to Federici (2014), the witch stereotype “was also the loose, promiscuous woman - the prostitute or adulteress, and generally, the woman who exercised her sexuality outside the bonds of marriage and procreation.”
Expressing sexuality in any form, especially as a woman, was identified as a shameful act. Implicitly, dress became the main way of controlling women's sexual behaviour by concealing the body as much as possible. In the early days of Christianity, women had to cover themselves with long robes and veils, reassemble many Muslim women today. Clement of Alexandria considered that anything that did not cover the eyes or hide the shape of the body was considered improper.
We can observe the results of this mentality to this day, with many people still considering taboo the discussion of natural female bodies functions, such as periods, female pleasure, menopause, etc, despite of all the progress we have made so far as a society. In the survey mentioned in the introduction conducted by me, people have responded yes to the question “Have you ever felt like your gender has a negative implication in the religious community you belong to?”. They were all Christian women, suggesting that female identifying bodies still feel the pressure of their gender in their religious community as a result of centuries of Christian rules on the woman’s role in society.
CHAPTER III:
CHRISTIAN CONVERSIONS
Christian missions started in the 500 AD with the purpose of eradicating the culture and religion of aboriginal, indigenous and polytheists groups and be converted to Christianity and educated to European and US standards.
Dress played a huge role in these missions as many of the indigenous groups had complex and intricate forms of divination where clothes were one of the main ways to participate in these rituals. Once the colonists enforced their measures on the natives, these communities were forced to give up their practices along with their rituals and forms of dress. "Conversion and European dress went hand in hand, as the older style dress used in traditional religious practices was rejected by missionaries as a relic of pre-Christian pagan practices" says Humme (2013).
To observe this phenomenon, the chapter will begin by studying the Inca empire, which some of its societies were among the most textile-oriented cultures in the world. Throughout the centuries there has been an abundant archaeological record on their culture, including dress, jewellery, headdress, etc. Their rich culture, having concepts of the spirit world, human body, cosmos is also woven in their traditional garments.
In A.D. 1532-3 the Spanish arrived in the Andeans of South America, where they encountered a religious society of pantheistic followers where women as well as men officiated ritual, they worshipped the so called “idols” and could talk to their divinities through the intermedium of an oracle, thing that Spaniards considered as devil worshipping. One of the biggest differences between the two cultures was the Christian belief in the dualistic concept of good God vs bad Devil while the Andean deities had more depth by being able to do both good and bad. Having such complex structures of faith, unique customs, and dress, when the colonisers arrived it was hard to convince the Andeans of their apparently omnipotent Christian God and its tales. The people of the world, according to an Inca origin myth, were called by the god Viracocha to come out from caves, rivers, and high mountains. As Arthur (2000) mentions “The men came out dressed in garments of fine wool woven with gold.” This was a direct clash with the Christian origin story where two naked people stand behind the existence of humanity. The Incas considered the Spaniards uncivilised and uncultured because of their bible stories that were enforced on their culture.
Eventually, the Spanish conquest to convert Andeans to Christianity using persuasion stopped and they started using force. One of the first imposed rules of dress was on Andean women, having to sew their dresses up in order to hide the side opening where you could see their tight and leg, considered immoral. Uprisings started happening against all things Christian, including the Spanish clothes that were forced on the society.
Nowadays, many religious native practices were abolished and destroyed in the chaos following the colonial suppression of the Inca Empire and most indigenous Andeans consider themselves good Christians. Nevertheless, some of the Inca practices are still performed in private along with myths about the origin of the cosmos and the importance of traditional dress in the defining Andean ethnicity and identity.
Mixing of religious apparel
The Inca Empire was not an isolated case but most of the colonised regions, despite of adopting the Christian faith, still managed to maintain a part of their traditional dress.
No matter how many restrictions and punishments the colonisers imposed, they soon realised that most of the natives weren't easily influenced and continued to practice their faith in secret. This mixture resulted in two faiths converted into one where Indigenous people could keep part of their rituals and attire under a Christian appearance. In time, the true meaning of the rituals has been lost with people nowadays fully converted to the Christian belief oblivious to the origins of their ancestral customs. Many of the people today still practice some of the old rituals and wear the ritualistic attire along with their Christian beliefs. In places such as Pacific Islands, the Americas, Australia and Africa, adapted their liturgical vestments to reflect the specific culture of the inhabitants, being woven in the religious clothing.
To add to this argument, we must only look at how Yoruba Christians decorated their vestments with handwoven narrow strip cloth (aso ofi) on their ecclesial vestments, mixing the Christian with the polytheistic symbolism. The origin of the aso ofi was placed in the traditional Yoruba religious ritual practices that revolved around worshiping nature and deities called “orishas”. The practitioners wore the handwoven cloths, made with hand spun local cotton, along with decorative shells, for ritualistic worshiping. When Christianity arrived in these communities, local dress was replaced by European dress. However, in the 20th century, Nigerian origins pride started to rise, and the use of locally sourced fabrics and design were reintegrated. Aso ofi was now used in liturgical vestments and in items such as chasubles giving the Yoruba Christians a new African identity. Paradoxically, this resulted in both the empowerment of the pre-Christian African culture, as well as the erasure of the true meaning of the handwoven cloth, being lost and fully attributed to the modern African Christianity. As Renne (2000) mentions “locally hand-woven cloth, formerly associated with traditional Yoruba practices, including religious ritual, has been both disassociated from these beliefs and linked with a modern African identity”. This blending practice can also be seen when nun dedicating their life to the church being dressed as Yoruba brides, wearing the handmade aso ofi, therefore, according to Humme (2013) "bridging the gap between the Christian and African identities through the subtle, but highly visible, medium of dress".
Cultural Resilience
The presented facts can be misleading, thinking that this negotiation happened willingly and accepted with peace by the indigenous communities. We must then realise that the coloniser posed great pressures on these groups and despite their most atrocious attempts of converting the natives, they did not give up their faith easily, finding creative ways to incorporate their faith to the imposed one and establish a new divinatory Christian religion that would try to fit their former beliefs.
Christians missions of conversion in India, on the other hand, seemed to be easier than expected at first. Hindus accepted the Christian god fast, but they also kept all the other Hindi divinities, maintaining the polytheist beliefs. Having an inclusive and accepting view on their faith, the Hindus were happy to add a new god to their practice, believing that there is no such thing as too many. This fluidity in their spiritual approach meant that the Christians did not manage to convert them, and the vast majority of India is still practicing their original polytheist religion today. As Scheldon (2019) emphasises “the distinction between Christianity and Hinduism in detailing the Hindu assimilation of other, diverse beliefs and rituals into their cosmology" was of great importance in maintaining their faith and managing to succeed where many other indigenous groups failed in the face of the oppressior.
Figure 6. Unknown, Idol worshipping (Murti Puja) in Hinduism
CHAPTER IV:
SPIRITUALITY IN THE MODERN AGE
The human species, unlike any other species on earth has always been in the search for meaning, universal answers and a higher power. It is now obvious that most of the people need a purpose. Despite our technological and scientific advancement, where we have rationally explained many of the antique myths of how the universe works, from our Blue Planet being round and not flat, along with other planets in the solar system, to the invention of artificial cognitive systems, people still need to find a spiritual meaning to their life and find a godlike being to give sense to their existence, being it omnipotent divinity or extra-terrestrial life.
With a lot of people recognising where Christianity and other big religions of the world have failed, we must now find a collective way of forming new belief systems that celebrate each other and the rich customs around the world. We must recognise that each culture is different, therefore in need of different deities that represent the people in concordance to their experience on earth. In order to understand this aspect, we must look at the practices and civilisation from the past that managed to maintain their faith in spite of oppressive super religions and implement an inclusive and accepting form of spirituality.
Alternative forms of belief have existed along the mainstream religions for a very long time. Many times, they have been forced to hide and remain underground but still managing to maintain their followers and pass their faith throughout the millennia. One of such is paganism and its many forms of religious paths. Paganism has its roots in nature and its teachings are not only respecting the individuals around you but also the planet as a whole. They worship many various deities from different parts of the world and cultures, from Egyptian to Celtic, and each person is allowed to choose their own path and way of worship, depending on their chosen practice. Pagans consider all things sacred and believe that the naked body is not a source of shame, but it is celebrated and praised. As Hume (2013) explains “The body is viewed as a divine gift, to be celebrated rather than subjugated to self-denial and punishment as it is in some religions”. The pagan dress is indicative of this wide variety and freedom of expression, the practitioners being able to adorn themselves in both luxurious and modest, tight, or loose, layered or even naked.
In my research I have come across an increasing number of people (especially in the younger generation) that is no longer following the collective faith of the community they had grown up in. They do not longer feel represented, or the values of the church do not align with theirs. This, however, does not mean that they no longer believe in a higher power or feel the need of a spiritual structure in their life. According to some of the people that have partaken in the survey, 55% have answered “maybe” to considering changing their religion to a more inclusive way of spirituality, 22% of them responded with “yes”. While one of the participants in the hey have focused “on following Christian doctrines and teachings independently and not have my faith blindly controlled by the different Christian institutions”.
Social media has been a huge facilitator of the rise of alternative spirituality where people have been gathering to exchange their experience with religion and form new inclusive ways of divinatory practices. WitchTok is a community on TikTok sharing tips and information on self-care, wellness and divination that are inspired from ancient pagan practice and rituals and modernised to our current world, where videos can reach up to 11 billion views. (Venkataramakrishnan, 2021).
Nowadays there are many types of neo-spirituality and practices that can be found online, from wellness and yoga to ancient honorary rituals dedicated to ancestors. The one thing that ties them all together is people’s openness to discovering their own unique path without
an institution dictating their faith. While their community might not practice the same type of spirituality, people can now find spiritual advisors that would match their beliefs on the internet. A study done by the Pew Research Center, shows that 27% of U.S. adults say they are spiritual but not religious and this group is evenly split between genders with 47% men and 53% women. Not only the spiritual community is more gender unified but also, we can see the same trend when it comes to race, ethnicity or even age (although inclining to be a bit younger). This study proves that the new era of modern spirituality is a unifying factor in our society where people can finally find their own unique path based on inclusion and acceptance. We are no longer in need of one predominant group that is dictating and enforcing their views on other people but we are willing to listen, learn and give each individual the opportunity to find their own set of beliefs, depending on their lifestyle, heritage and preferences.
CONCLUSION
This essay has presented the importance of dress and how clearly it incapsulates the beliefs and ideologies of an era and has raised the question of how we can create clothes that complement a lifestyle where the meaning of the wearer is compassion, understanding and inclusion. Where one's search for meaning does not come at the expense of millions.
The purpose of this essay is not to tell the reader that Christianity or any other religion is good or evil. The purpose of this essay is making people see that humans have a desperate need in finding meaning in their everyday lives. The question is how to give people a sense of purpose that is inclusive and beneficial to everybody. Meaning that is not given by the superiority of one group over the other but by the similarities that they share. In the end, the main thing that gets us together is the unique experience of existing as a human being at this exact time and place along with other fellow human beings.
