JEWESSES AND WIGS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1682, 10 May 1884, Page 2

JEWESSES AND WIGS.

There is a remarkable ulster} surrounding the origin of the custom of the Jewish women cutting off"their hair and donning a wig on their marriage. Even in the present day the custom is still observed by tho> ultra orthodox. The effects of the custom were supposed to give a cluo'-fo its otigin, There was undoubtedly too much reason in the middle ages for,the Jewesses to be eager to make themselves as attractive as possible. The custom of cutting off the hair of tile, bride on the wedding day is not even mentioned in the Tulmud. According to Mishnah Ketuboth vii., 6, it is contrary to Jewish custom for married women to appear in the street with an uncovered head. Out of modesty the custom was also observed in the house, and in order to remove the possibility of yielding to temptation tho hairserving no longer as an ornament,- but being a superfluous weight on the head —was entirely cut off. According to Mishnah Naziv iv., 5, the cutting off the hair is considered a disfigurement, which her husband could veto in case of his wife being a Nazarite. Some' few believe that the custom dates from the very earliest times, and they found their opinion upon the allusion thereto in Deuteronomy, chapter xxi., 12 Referring to mode prescribed for taking a captive woman for a wife the text says: " Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house and she shall shave her head."