A bit about the bonnet.

Today I'm feeling nostalgic.  Easter was always a special time for me and my mom.  I usually got a new dress, gloves, and shiny white shoes to wear for church services.  I'd proudly march up the front steps of the Dorchester Methodist Church and extend my white gloved hand to whomever happened to be the greeter on Easter Sunday.  Very special Easter Sunday's included going to the cemetary for the sunrise service. Those are memories I will always cherish.  Then we'd return to the farm and I'd strategically remove my Easter bonnet and put it on my dresser.  I really did think I was very fancy!

 

Do you know the history of the Easter bonnet?  The Easter bonnet is significant of the tail-end of a long standing tradition of wearing new clothes at Easter.  The tradition was begun in keeping harmony with the renewal of the year and the promise of spiritual renewal and redemption.  Yes, the wearing of an Easter bonnet is really significant of redemption of our sins and the rising of Christ. In the United States, the bonnet was fixed in pop culture by Irving Berlin, who wrote the music referencing the Easter parade in New York City.  In 1933, the song became popular in the Broadway production of "Thousands Cheer".  Berlin wrote about the festive walkabout in the city, when people paraded down Fifth Avenue from St. Patrick's Cathedral after Easter service.  "In your Easter bonnet with all the frills upon it, You'll be the grandest lady in the Easter parade!"

Miss Gabrielle Ray - a Rotary Photo

 

The tradition continued, even during the great depression.  Surely, a new hat was a luxury, but even a refurbished old bonnet remained special.  The idea of new clothes at Easter was even referenced in Romeo and Juliet, as far back as the late 16th century.  In the story, Mercutio teases Benvolio ""Did'st thou not fall out with a Tailor for wearing his new clothing (doublet) before Easter?"

Miss Mabel Love

 



Poor Robin's almanac, from the 18th-century, offered the advice, "At Easter let your clothes new Or else be sure you will it rue."  That notion that ill-luck would hound the one who didn't present him/herself in something new at Easter expanded in the 19th century.  Easter bonnets were worn by women and girls to Easter services, and in the parades that followed.  Particularly, in this Victorian time, ladies purchased elaborate designs for church service, recognizing the end of Lent and suffering, partaking in luxury. 



Early on, bonnets were hand made by the women who wore them.  In the late 18th century, the art was taken from the home and the millinery profession began.  Sadly, as manufacturing overtook the hand work of a seamstress and the design of the milliner, the novelty of the grand Easter bonnet began to fade.  Through the 1920-50's American women still wore hats, but the grand bonnet became a memory.  Today, in our casual society, Easter Bonnets are becoming harder to find, and fewer and fewer women bother with the tradition.  Today I saw several pretty little girls'  photos posted on Facebook, but none of them wore Easter bonnets.  That makes me a little bit sad.

So, on this Easter Sunday of 2014, I'm flipping through nostalgia, viewing beautiful photographs of a time when things were more difficult, and somehow much more beautiful.  I think we should have a bonnet evening at the Pour House, where the members of the Committee on Social Thought sit calmly, sipping and pontificating, reminiscing about memories of Easters past, and reflecting on the Word, giving thanks.  Enjoy the photos.  Happy Easter everyone.