Hellenic Veiling

Keep in mind, I’m veiling as a Hellenist, so I can’t talk about veiling in other forms of paganism. Veiling has historical context in Hellenism. Hellenic women would bind and cover their hair. This typically involved buns, braids, or elaborate updo’s (depending on social status) and anything from thick cloths wrapped around your hair to himations worn over the hair. The himation is a large cloth that is wrapped around the body and can be worn over the head as well, like so:

[credit]

The below image shows several different ways of wearing and covering your hair that were used by ancient Greek women:

[credit] check out this source for sure as @lykeiaofapollon talks about veiling and himations

Now, beyond the fact that hellenic art is saturated with images of women and goddesses alike with bound and covered hair, we don’t have much historical context. And there are also plenty of images of women without covered hair as well. This is one of those things that establishes that head covering was apparent and available, but not necessarily compulsory. 

From there everyone is welcome to draw their own conclusions and come to their own decisions about personal veiling. For me, it’s about closeness to the theoi. I’ve covered my hair during ritual for a while now, with the only exception being celebrations to Dionysus, where if I do anything to cover my hair it’s typically flowers braided into my hair or affixed with clips and bobby pins. 

It’s something that feels right to me during ritual. A kind of symbol of devotion. I’m taking the time to do something to visually alter myself before approaching the theoi. It helps clear my mind, helps keep me focused on the theoi, and makes me feel pretty. I had wrestled with the idea of veiling on a regular basis outside of ritual for some time. 

On the one hand, as an oath-bound devotee to Dionysus, I want to be ‘wild’ and free, and leave my hair unbound; and I feel so close to him when I don’t even worry about my hair and just let it do whatever. I also had to (and still do sometimes) wrestle with the fact that I was raised in a household that didn’t understand and wasn’t very tolerant to religious head covering. I grew up hearing all the cliche bs about how a woman covering her hair for religious reasons is just being kept down by sexism and doesn’t have any autonomy. As wrong as I logically know that is, sometimes I catch myself thinking that others will perceive my own decision to veil as someone else ‘making’ me do it. This is especially true when I have other women telling me I’m a “bad feminist” for deciding to cover my hair, which thankfully doesn’t happen often, but I’ve had more women comment negatively on my veiling than men.

On the other hand though, veiling is something that’s personally fulfilling to me on a spiritual level. It’s something that makes me feel closer to the theoi as a whole. It’s also something that makes me feel closer to Persephone specifically. It’s an outward symbol of my devotion, and that’s a comfort to me, even if I do veil in a way that’s discreet and ‘fashionable’ most days. I also feel, personally, that it helps keep me from gaining so much miasma. Days when I veil, I just don’t seem to give as many proverbial fucks about the humdrum and the little things that distract me from the theoi, as days when I don’t veil. Even when it’s just a headband, I personally find that I don’t let myself get as caught up in silly little things that are emotionally and spiritually draining for me. 

Mind you, that’s not true for everyone, and it’s not going to be the case for everyone. Also a few things on note. While men in ancient Greece didn’t cover their hair, gender perceptions have changed, and I personally feel that anyone, regardless of gender has the option of covering their hair if they want. I also feel that covering your hair is not necessary, and doesn’t make you any ‘better’ of a Hellenist than if you don’t cover your hair.