page_title: Christian head covering
section_title: Oriental Christianity
hierarchical_section_title: Christian head covering / Current practices / Tradition / Oriental Christianity
caption_attribution_description: English: A woman in black robes, wearing a floor length veil. Black- and- white photograph.
context_page_description: Christian head covering, also known as Christian veiling, is the practice of women covering their head in a variety of Christian traditions. Some Christian women, based on Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Calvinist, and Methodist teaching, wear the head covering in public worship, while others, especially Anabaptist Christians, believe women should wear head coverings all the time. The practice of Christian head covering for "praying and prophesying" was inspired by a traditional interpretation of 1 Corinthians 11:2–6 in the New Testament. The practice of the Christian head covering for modesty is from Holy Oral Tradition; though, Saint Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:13-16 of Holy Scripture stated that a woman is to just have long hair for modesty. The majority of Biblical scholars have held that "verses 4-7 refer to a literal veil or covering of cloth" for "praying and prophesying" and verse 15 to refer to long hair of a woman for modesty.
context_section_description: Coptic women historically covered their head and face in public and in the presence of men. During the 19th century, upper-class urban Christian and Muslim women in Egypt wore a garment which included a head cover and a burqa (muslin cloth that covered the lower nose and the mouth). The name of this garment, harabah, derives from early Christian and Judaic religious vocabulary, which may indicate the origins of the garment itself. Unmarried women generally wore white veils while married women wore black. The practice began to decline by the early 20th century.
caption: Coptic Orthodox Christian woman wearing a head covering and harabah (1918).
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