It’s
that time of year ladies and gentlemen; college students are being thrust out
into the real world, high schools kids are being thrown into the ideologies of
the academic world, and parents everywhere are proud. Can you feel it? Graduation is in the air, and for many it is a
time for change. For others it means
having to find that elusive job thing you keep hearing about. Can you see it? Amassed groups of young educated people
everywhere will be donning their ceremonial caps and gowns and receiving
certification for their years of intellectual work. This is why, ladies and gentlemen, we are featuring
the mortarboard as the hat of accomplishment on the hebephrenic hatter.
According
to this place, the cap and gown tradition originated in the 12th
century. Our medieval predecessors and
accomplices in knowledge wore the garb as a religious practice. They needed to signify their status of, or
comparability to, clerics, and hoods were adopted later for warmth. These guys claim that in the fifteenth
century scholars adopted the cap (i.e. mortarboard), as many headwear
innovations were conceived, to protect their heads, and the aristocracy are
reported to have decorated their hats with strands of pearls and the like. This, as you have guessed, could very well
have been the first tassels used in graduation ceremonies.
Photo courtesy of math.byu.edu.
So,
depending on the school you go to or degree obtained, when you move your
tassel form right to left or left to right remember you are a part of a proud
tradition of scholars dating back to medieval times. It is also important to keep in mind
that, while you may be leaving school, you education will last a lifetime. That’s it for today’s installment of the
hebephrenic hatter, but stay tuned for more of your favorite hats.
