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From: <>
Subject: [AZORES-L] Caps and Hairstyles in the 1400s.
Date: Tue, 7 Sep 1999 19:41:35 EDT

It is interesting to know something about our male ancestors in the 15th
century. Some of them were dandies, no other word will do. But then it was
the custom.

In the early years of the colonization of Sao Miguel life was hard and
sacrifices great.
Habitation was primitive. At first there were the caves covered with straw or
hay. The first houses built in Ponta Delgada were of wood and later of rock
and whitewash. No matter how hard the life of the early colonist, there was
yet the division of class.
An example of class was the head-gear men wore. It was the custom to wear
caps, not hats.

The common man, the man of the country, wore on his head a cap known as a
carapuça. It was a cap with a hanging piece which fell from the back of the
head to below the neck. It protected the neck. There were two cords which
tied under the beard. The front part of the cap had a crescent shaped visor
to protect the face.

A man in the upper class would never have worn a carapuça. He, too, wore a
cap. A cloth cap called a barrete do canto. It was a three cornered cap
that fit tightly over the top of the head. In the 15th century this cap
served two purposes: to protect the head and to display a man's hair to
advantage.

On Sundays and feast days the men went to church wearing their barretes do
cantos and woolen suits made from their own sheep. In church those who had a
good head of hair proudly displayed it. Those who did not wore wigs. These
wigs were cared for carefully during the week and only worn on Sundays or on
feast days.
During the week the men wore clothing of linen or flax.

The common many wore his carapuça to church and the tunics he wore daily.

Into this century into the 30s and probably even later, many men of the
country on Sao Miguel continued to use the carapuças. Long before this time,
the upper classes were into derbies and top hats, and one could even catch
sight of some smart fellow in a panama.

Eloise

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