Photos and story BY CANDICE RESHEF
NNB Student Reporter
In many black churches, faith meets fashion atop the heads of female worshippers. Fancy, colorful hats are a fixture in sanctuaries everywhere, especially for older women and especially on Easter and Mother’s Day.
The congregation at St. Petersburg’s Mount Zion Progressive Missionary Baptist Church at 955 20th St. S calls Easter “Resurrection Day.” In an effort to be welcoming to the community, the church also calls it “Casual Sunday”—no need to dress in Sunday best to enter this house of the Lord.
But even on Casual Sunday, the tradition of the Sunday hat endures.
It is said that the tradition goes back to slavery days, when women made humble, makeshift hats as they tried to dress their best when presenting themselves to the Lord.
In the decades that followed, Sunday was the day of the week when women who worked as maids and nannies could shed their drab work clothes for a snappy outfit accented by a colorful hat, or “crown.”
In their book Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats, photographer Michael Cunningham and journalist Craig Marberry say today’s hats range from yard sale bargains to flamboyant pieces that cost hundreds of dollars.
There are even hat rules, say Cunningham and Marberry.
First, a hat should not be wider than your shoulders.
If there are feathers, they should not be broken or bent.
On Easter, it is best to wear white, cream or pastels.
A chapel veil gives the wearer a demure look.
Fashion-conscious men like hats, too.
Even little ones look cute in caps.
The author Deirdre Guion has a name for the Sunday tradition: “hattitude.”
“There’s a little more strut in your carriage when you wear a nice hat,” says Guion. “There’s something special about you.”
Information from “Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats” by Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry was used in this report.