Coverings and bonnets and a new desk

If one of my nieces had asked me, "Who has Grandma's prayer covering," I could have honestly told her, "I don't know, ask your mother." No more. I found it along with many pair of scissors, at least 10 old eye wear, a hand held calculator with no batteries, a 2017 pocket calendar, Museum of Art membership card for 2018, phone # for appliance repair, bags and envelopes of cancelled stamps for donation to an organization that uses them, math compass, rulers 12" and 6", User's guide for my CD clock radio 1999, perhaps 20-30 half used small notebooks, old photos that didn't make the cut for one of our 40+ photo albums, sacks of cards waiting for just the right moment which never comes, decorative magnets purchased as souvenirs of our travels, 20-30 CDs with various updates or unknown information, and an unopened box for a course in Constitution 101. I have several more boxes to go through before the transition to my new desk is finished.  The old Steelcase that I’ve had for over 40 years will go to new home, when pick ups are allowed again. At least 85% of its contents need to leave this house with it.

For those unfamiliar with Anabaptist traditions, a prayer covering is something Christian women wear for communion, or if they are conservative Mennonite or Old order Brethren, they wear them all the time. Mother usually kept a few extras in her desk drawer (neater than mine) in case there were relatives visiting during the Easter season when the twice a year observance took place. The last time I had communion (Brethren Love Feast) in my home church was probably the mid-1990s, so I would have borrowed one. But this one was hers--the tattered envelope is labeled. She died in January 2000.

I found a blog written by a Monica Rice, a 2011 MA graduate of Bethany Theological Seminary, who has studied this tradition in depth. It's not exactly the way I remember things, but it's been over 50 years since I was a member and each locality or congregation sets its own standards. The photo looks like Mom's covering and the one I had. Some are in bonnet form and each style has its own history and tradition. Somewhere packed away I have my great grandmother's black bonnet from the 19th century.

I also own the first yearbook of Bethany because my grandfather was on the Board, but that’s another blog (or I’ve already written one).

http://www.brethrenlifeandthought.org/2012/09/28/what-about-the-prayer-covering/

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Monday Memories--head covering or prayer veil

Somewhere I have a small envelop containing a prayer covering. Mother always kept a few in her desk so that if we were visiting around Easter or the fall communion date for the Brethren Love Feast, her daughters or granddaughters could wear one to the service, and I think I may have brought one home after her funeral in 2000. There is a fairly long, but not unbiased, article about head coverings for Mennonite women here. We were not Mennonite and most Brethren women gave up the veil or covering in the 1920s. I've seen photos of my maternal grandmother in a bonnet similar to the ones on the left when she was a young married woman. As I see it, they have both a spiritual and cultural use. Among the Brethren, it was called dressing "in order," and it reminds us that there is a God given order between men and women, and humans and God. But they are also a witness to others about your faith and help maintain modesty. Women who cover their heads would look a bit silly with bellies hanging over waist bands, and bursting bosoms over the top of skinny t-shirts. Even sillier than those who do it with no head covering.

I was probably 11 or 12 when I was baptized. My parents drove from Forreston (15 miles) so I could attend the instruction classes at the Church of the Brethren in Mt. Morris, which I think were on Sunday afternoon. Most of the class was the children in this photograph. After baptism, I was given my own prayer veil which I wore to communion to sit with the women, twice a year. The last I wore a covering was about 10 years ago when I attended communion at my parents' church.

Interesting selection of head coverings for women over the centuries, including Lutherans, Episcopalians, Baptists, and Anabaptists.