why is a nun's headwear called a habit?

Question

hi,does anyone know the meaning of the word "habit" (as in a nun's headscarf)why is it called a habit?and what is the purpose of it?

Answer 1

It is from the Latin "habitus, habere" to have, or a condition of, a calling. A habit is not confined to a nun or monk. It can mean clothing worn to signify any profession. e.g. a rider's habit).

It just means any clothing that signifies that you have a certain calling or vocation.

A nun's habit is the most common usage today.

Answer 2

Nuns Headwear

Answer 3

I think you will find that " yet the same people who criticize Islam" most certainly DO NOT "praise nuns for their commitment". For their actions (when doing community work) maybe, but their motives, beliefs and dress code, you will find that critics of islam typically consider convent nuns to be an obsolete, ridiculous idea. Also, becoming a nun is voluntary. The vast majority of women living in muslim societies did not volunteer to be women living in muslim societies. They have to wear what their society and religious masters (all male) tell them to wear. A nun can leave the convent at any time. A muslim woman trying to pull the same thing off would face obstacles which recent history has taught us can range from shunning and censure right the way up to murder. So, a nun's headwear is not "OK", it's ludicrous, but the hijab is most definitely oppressive. Finally, note that there are many of us who criticise the compulsion to wear the hijab as being misogynist and patriarchical, but do so regardless of what else islam teaches. Criticizing the hijab is not the same as criticising islam. It's not the RELIGION that forces the wearing (as you yourself state). It's the people.

Answer 4

Curiosity about nuns and their distinctive clothing is almost as old as Catholicism itself. The habit intrigues the religious and the nonreligious alike, from medieval maidens to contemporary schoolboys, to feminists and other social critics. The first book to explore the symbolism of this attire, The Habit presents a visual gallery of the diverse forms of religious clothing and explains the principles and traditions that inspired them. More than just an eye-opening study of the symbolic significance of starched wimples, dark dresses, and flowing veils, The Habit is an incisive, engaging portrait of the roles nuns have and do play in the Catholic Church and in ministering to the needs of society.

From the clothing seen in an eleventh-century monastery to the garb worn by nuns on picket lines during the 1960s, habits have always been designed to convey a specific image or ideal. The habits of the Benedictines and the Dominicans, for example, were specifically created to distinguish women who consecrated their lives to God; other habits reflected the sisters’ desire to blend in among the people they served. The brown Carmelite habit was rarely seen outside the monastery wall, while the Flying Nun turned the white winged cornette of the Daughters of Charity into a universally recognized icon. And when many religious abandoned habits in the 1960s and ’70s, it stirred a debate that continues today.

Answer 5

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
why is a nun's headwear called a habit?
hi,does anyone know the meaning of the word "habit" (as in a nun's headscarf)why is it called a habit?and what is the purpose of it?

Answer 6

Actually, a nun's habit is the entire outfit she wears. (The traditional kind.)
She covers her head out of respect (as do other Catholic women while in church). It was traditional to cut their hair very short and to hide it. This is associated with vanity.
The habit is a "uniform" of sorts that is identified with a certain order. All nuns in each order dress alike. Different orders have habits of different styles.

Answer 7

I believe a nun's head wear is called a wimple or a word that sounds like that. Her dress is called a habit.

Answer 8

This was an enjoyable question to research! Attending Catholic schools
as a child was for me, contrary to some, a good experience , and this
research certainly brought back many memories! A bonus for me was
re-encountering the ubiquitous phrase “Nihil Obstat”, always stamped
in my childhood books! Terms like “whimple”, “scapular” and “habit”
have not been in my vocabulary either, for some years! (I was almost
tempted to place a “JMJ” at the top of my answer!)

Finding verbal descriptions of habits and other sisterly garb is not
easily found online. I believe your best bet will be to return to
books marked “Nihil Obstat” and “Imprimatur”! I have found numerous
books, some online resources, (including some un-conventional ones)
and online sources for the founding of religious orders.

Answer 9

Because they have a habit of wearing the hijab too.

Answer 10

Nuns scare me. They have no feet.