Hat Spirituality

Make a Chinese paper hat

World Beat Festival is happening in Salem this weekend. I went today. I ate Turkish flatbread with feta, parsley, green onions, and spinach. I walked through an archway spraying a water mist. I looked at a Dragon boat. I perused clothing and jewelry kiosks, drum kiosks, various cultural centers, listened to music from China, Mexico, Africa, Asia, the Pacific Islands, enjoyed dancing from the same, savored Italian ice, and laughed with my daughter. We bought hats at the same booth. It took us a long time to decide which hat was the best hat suited for our faces, our hair, our personalities. It matters.

I heard a woman ask someone "Does this look like me?" I've said that. I probably said it when I was trying on hats. Funny how clothing, shoes, hats have a way of saying "This is who I am." And they do. Our exterior reflects our interior. We have preferences in color, style, size, shape, texture, length, cut, and content. We think we wear certain things because we like them. Sure we like them, but why? What is it about that color, that texture, that cut, that content?

I think the style of our clothing says something about what we are hiding or what we are exposing or what we are saying about ourselves or what we are saying about our spirituality. It seems to me that reflecting on my choice of dress and accessories might reveal to me something about myself that I didn't know on a conscious level. Hmmm . . . I wonder what this new hat has to say about me? or my spirituality?