Friday, April 17, 2009

Rainy Days

It is normally really dry around here since we are close to a desert, but rainy days bring out one of my all time favourite sights. I wish I had a picture to help demonstrate how funny it is, but rainy days force everyone to be on the run and no one feels very much like stopping to pose for a picture, much less me taking the time to pull out the camera, and get drenched while trying to focus it and get a good shot.

Men around here are known for wearing hats, called doppa's. They say you can tell where a man is from based on his hat, since each oasis town around the desert has a different pattern for the men's hats. The hats are all hand embroidered and are a piece of work to be protected.
Since these hats are such a big part of the culture the men would never think of not wearing their hats, even on rainy days. Instead they take a cheap plastic bag like you would get at the grocery store and they put their hats in the bag, tucking the rest of the plastic inside, before fitting the whole thing back on their head. They go from showing off beautiful stitch work, to having local labels and logos bouncing on their heads. It is quite the sight to see dignified older men walking around town wearing plastic bags on their heads.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Those are beautiful, much more so than the kipas that the Jewish men wear here.