Tibetan Hats: Flying Black Hat, Red Hat from Mongolia
Image source: Ethnical Clothing Museum.
Hat, it's a kind of culture.
There is a Tibetan proverb that says, "Do not put a black hat on a person of innocence"（མི་དཀར་པོར་ཞྭ་མོ་ནག་པོ་མ་གཡོག） and "A smooth person loses their hat"（མགོ་བདེ་པོས་ཞྭ་མོ་བརླག）, suggesting that the hat holds deep cultural significance. Indeed, not only
Compared to many ethnic groups in the world, the hat culture in Tibet is definitely long-standing and diverse. Modern scholars have pointed out that there are about 140 different types of hats in the past Tibet alone. Traditionally, Tibetan hats are broadly classified into summer hats (དབྱར་ཞྭ) and winter hats (དགུན་ཞྭ) based on the seasons. However, Tibetan hats can also be classified based on different occupations, such as the monk's hat, artist's hat, official's hat, and so on. Even within the monk's hat category, there are different styles based on different sects and ranks. Similarly, official hats have different styles based on different ranks, not to mention that individuals may wear different hats for different occasions.
The Zanpu with the Buddha on his head and his turban
The history of Tibetan hats can be traced back to the Tubo period, with Songtsen Gampo's head wrapped in cloth as a representative example. There is a familiar and firmly believed legend among the Tibetan people, as recorded in the "Zhu Jian Shi": "Guanyin Bodhisattva decided to incarnate as the Tubo Zanpu to educate the subjects there, so he was reborn as Songtsen Gampo... What is particularly miraculous is that in his thick black hair, there grew a head of the Amitabha Buddha. King father Nari Songtsen, fearing that the strange phenomenon of Songtsen Gampo would be misunderstood by outsiders, used a red silk strip to wrap up the image of Amitabha Buddha on his head during the day." However, modern scholar Gendun Qunpei stated in his "White History": "At that time, the country most closely related to Tibetans was Persia, among whose people not only Buddhism flourished, but also the most learned and virtuous. It seems that the Tibetan king and ministers at that time were influenced by the customs of Persia, with legends of King Songtsen wrapping his head with red silk, wearing a colorful satin cloak, and sharp leather shoes, all of which are similar to Persian customs."
It is worth mentioning that although literature generally describes the chieftain's headgear as red, there are also many later sculptures that depict it as white. Some explanations suggest that white color can better highlight the complexion of the Buddha atop the head. Several famous murals in the Dunhuang Mogao Caves depict the Tubo chieftain, known as the "Tubo Chieftain Offering to the Buddha." In these murals, the chieftain is depicted wearing a red headgear. Scholars refer to it as the "Zanskar Hat," also known as the "Morning Glow Crown" (although there is some debate, it is clear that these two forms are similar). In any case, it can be confirmed that early Tubo royalty and nobility used headscarves to wrap into cylindrical or tower-shaped headdresses, a style that was not unique to Tibet but had a long history of cultural exchange and dissemination. More importantly, this kind of headgear is "a transitional period from headscarves to hats, and a prototype of the development of Tibetan hats" (Wang Hao: "A Study of Traditional Tibetan Hats").
Image source: Internet
Red tasseled hat from Mongolia
The change of dynasties led to different regional exchanges, which in turn promoted different cultural developments. Clothing culture is no exception. After the fall of the Tubo Dynasty, the Ali Kingdom briefly experienced glory and developed a unique ethnic clothing through the integration with neighboring Central Asian ethnic groups. During the Yuan Dynasty, a large amount of Mongolian culture entered Tibet, leading to the emergence of many Mongolian-style Tibetan hats. The Red Tassel Hat is a typical representative of this style. Known as "Sosha" (སོག་ཞྭ། Mongolian hat) by the Tibetan people, it was originally favored by nobles and aristocrats, but interestingly, it later became the hat of knights and servants. Even today, during Tibetan festivals, we can still see the presence of these hats.
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