The sect of hoods from the Azores (6 photos)

They look like nuns, but not much. And they can star in a horror movie without changing clothes. Who are they?





These are just the inhabitants of the Azores, ordinary women, dressed in the fashion of their time in capes with huge hoods. Where such a fashion came, it was not possible to find out exactly. According to one version, the starting point was Flanders. Other researchers consider that the hood club hails from Portugal.



But one thing is important: the entire female population, starting with small girls and ending with respectable old women, dressed in such gizmos. The capote e capelo cloak hid the outlines of the figure, and the giant hood allowed only to speculate whose face is hidden in its bottomless depths and endless folds.





The fashion for capes continued until the 30s of the last century, and then gradually faded away. On the surviving photos, the raincoats are black, but in in reality they were blue, different shades of this color.



On different islands of the archipelago, hoods had a specific shape: somewhere wedge-shaped, somewhere suggesting laying in the shape of the head or specific folds on the shoulders. Such is the local fashion.



The most interesting thing is that no one can really explain what was necessitated the use of this strange object wardrobe. The main version is the piety of the women of the Azores islands, which, when meeting with men, did not have the right to look them in eyes. And walking with your nose forever buried in the ground, apparently, was such a thing. pleasure. The second explanation is more exotic and says that with with the help of such barrier protection, the ladies protected themselves from all kinds of contagious diseases. diseases, of which there were many on the islands. But why then nothing like that not provided for boys and men? They are not so sorry, happen what?



It is likely that it is a combination of factors. And the truth as usual, somewhere nearby, hovering behind the folds of the hood, but remains elusive.