2000 years ago this was fashionable dress in the Middle East. There was no American culture because there was no America. That's right, students in high school, there was no America, and no cell phones, and Jesus could not call his disciples together using Twitter. A few years ago, we took an extended vacation to England and saw quite a few Shakespearean plays in Oxford, Cambridge, and Stratford on Avon. Sometimes the actors wore Elizabethan costumes but more often they wore 20th century clothes, jeans, t-shirts, suits and dresses. At first it was shocking until you got the message from the professors in attendance at many of these school based performances...Shakespeare wrote for the common people and his stories were meant to be contemporaneous. Though nobody pulled a Glock in Romeo and Juliet, the costumes suggested present day.
So, if it's good enough for Shakespeare to change with the times, though keeping the message and script, why would some cultures require their women to dress like they were living in the 4th century? I bet that if Jesus' mother Mary lived today, she probably would not dress like Madonna or Britney Spears but I would not be surprised is she shopped at Off Fifth.
Was there a gun-totin' feminist standing behind you when you wrote this? ARGH! Women at the time of Christ (and before and after) dress according to the climate where they live, mixed in with religious doctrine. American feminists drive me crazy on this point--the geographic area known as "The Holy Land" is hot and dry, as well as windy and sometimes disgusting after a good rain. The veil protects the brain and the loose clothing maintain body temperatures. Both the Catholic Church and the Muslims continue to reinforce this outfit as a way to keep women pretty much asexual (which never ever works). What would Mary wear today? I don't know--GLoria Vanderbilt jeans; Jones New York suits; Ferragamo knock-offs? Whatever she wore would be better than anything Britney and Madonna ET AL are wearing, that's for sure!
ReplyDeleteMJA