Witches' Hats

[Tonyblack]

I've recently been reading A Hat Full of Sky and a lot is made in there about the typical witch hat.

Now we all know what a witches' hat looks like - we've grown up hearing stories about witches and many of them have the pointy hats we associate with them.



The question is - where does this type of hat come from? Is it based on something else or did witches really wear hats like this?

Given the way witches have been treated over the years (on this world) one would imagine that they wouldn't want to advertise the fact. But again and again in popular culture, witches are depicted wearing the pointy hat.

Any ideas about the origin of these hats?

[cols]

http://witches.monstrous.com/witch_s_hat.htm

This gives a reasonable explanation as to possible origins


I myself think that cloaked figures out on windy nights, wind fills hood, hood stands up, onlookers see figures in the distance with pointy hats and so it begins... just a theory

[poohbcarrot]

Ｈｅｙ　Cols

If you reply to this post you will become a full member (if my reading of the thread was correct)

[cols]

okay here goes......

[Tonyblack]

Now that's magic!

Congrats cols.

[chris.ph]

i hope you googled that cols and didnt allready know the answer

[cols]

I'm just in amazement that the URL actually works. Yippe


Little bit of history here(no don't fall asleep yet!) only got my Laptop in October and besides a night class on wordprocessing and 'how to send an email' I'm completely new to all this.I must be the only 33yr old who didn't have email till a couple of months ago
I digress ...Yes I googled it . Been up since 4.30am after 2and a half hours sleep..Going through a regular bout of insomnia and sad as it sounds it gave me something to do!

A simple yes probably would have sufficed.sorry

[Jan Van Quirm]

Nods at cols URL - Monstrous is a great site. I looked up Basilisks, Manticores and Unicorns up on there the other day for a story game on my other site and it was really helpful. Monstropedia(section of Wiki but kind of stand-alone) is also v. useful and includes human monsters - tons of stuff on zombies, vamps & witches/wizzes too of course...

For visual junkies there's a very aesthetic and classy site HERE which is a little unwieldy but the artwork for the galleries (much of it of from classical artists) is gorgeous

[Tiffany]

Isn't a Wizards (or Wizzards ) hat similar to a Witches hat? If they are different, in what way are they different?

[Tonyblack]

Generally, I think wizard's hats don't have a brim.

[Tiffany]

Having a quick look through The Last Hero, Paul Kidby, the Wizards do have brims on their hats in that one, but in the later graphic novels by Steven Ross they look as if they are wearing pointy beanies. I prefer Paul Kidby's illustrations, personally.