Throughout history clothing has been decorative as well as practical, and headdresses in particular have taken countless forms. Those used by women have always been especially ornate and colourful, using many different materials to enhance the wear'sea beauty and signify her role and rank in society. In Turkey the traditional headdresses worn by women and girls over the centuries varied according to the region, and their age and status. It was possible to tell from their headdresses whether they were of marriageable age, engaged, newly married, had children or not - even the number of children, whether they were boys or girls, and whether their sons were doing their military service; whether they were widowed, wished to marry again, lived in a village or town, were rich or poor. Among the formerly nomadic Türkmen it was customary when a girl was born to take gifts of silver coins, which were sewn onto a cap that the girl wore until her marriage, at which time her husbnd'sg family presented her with a new headdress.

These traditions still continue in parts of Turkey today, as I discovered when I was a guest at a Türkmen wedding in a mountain village near Edremit on the Aegean coast in 2002. At a ceremony the day after the wedding, the women of the groo'sg family presented the bride with a headdress adorned with Ottoman gold coins worth over four thousand dollars. The marriage headdress is worn for the rest of the womn'sr life, the gold coins only being spent in case of dire need, since it is considered dishonourable to make use of them. If circumstances do require that some or all of them be spent, it is essential to replace them as soon as possible. Women and their headdresses are regarded as sacred and inviolate. The headdress is traditionally worn all the time; at home, at work, at weddings and at festivals. Besides gold and silver coins, it is decorated with beads, flower motifs worked in needle lace, and diverse metal motifs. The headdresses themselves consist of silk crepe, fringed scarves, silk cord, and block printed scarves.

Headdress ornaments are closely connected with ancient folkloric beliefs relating to fertility, health, good fortune and long life. In diverse forms such beliefs are to be found in different cultures all over the world. Various metals feature in the costumes of shamans, for example, and similarly when Muslims perform the pilgrimage to Mecca they always wear a silver ring, which is believed to bring God's blessing. The personal ornaments which human beings have worn since time immemorial speak a universal language that crosses all boundaries of country, religion, race and language.

* Sabiha Tansug is an ethnologist, researcher and writer.