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Anarmband is a piece of material worn around the arm. They may be worn for pure ornamentation, or to mark the wearer as belonging to group, or as insignia having a certain rank, status,office orrole, or being in a particular state or condition. Sprung armbands, known assleeve garters, have been used by men to keep overlong sleeves from dropping over the hands and thereby interfering with their use.[1] Armbands may also refer toinflatable armbands used to assist flotation for swimmers or for use with sphygmomanometers, in which case they are generally referred to as cuffs.[2]
Bronze Age armbands have been found made frombronze (sometimes gilded) andjet.[3] Some were constructed so that it would have been impossible to remove them.[3]
When used as part of amilitaryuniform it is called abrassard. Uniforms serving other purposes such as to identify members ofclubs,societies orteams may also have armbands for certain ranks or functions. An armband might identify a groupleader, ateam captain, or a person charged with controlling or organizing an event.
Police departments in Asia use armbands for a "traffic reflection armband" or marking a type of unit.
Journalists in Asia use an armband to mark themselves, similar to apress badge.
Armbands are sometimes used to indicatepolitical affiliations or to identify the wearer with anideology orsocial movement.
Large corporations sponsor athletes and teams in an effort to getadvertising when the athletes exhibit the corporatelogo visibly. Armbands,headbands,handbands andwristbands are common forms of such advertising.
The phraseto wear your heart on yoursleeve, meaning to show your feelings, to display an emotional affiliation or conviction, is supposedly related to armbands. In medievaljousts, ladies of the court were said to tie a piece of cloth — ascarf orkerchief — around the arm of their favoriteknight, who thus displayed his affection for the lady.[citation needed]
Armbands are often used to hold a smartphone or a portable music player on a wearer's arm while doing activities such as lifting weights, running, etc. A hybrid type of armband and handband combination is now also widely used by runners.
Even armbands can be used for giving identity to someone and who they are part of their tribe. Indigenous people used armbands for that reason and they used Metals, raw hides, leather, and beads to create the uniqueness of armbands.[4]
In some cultures, a black armband signifies that the wearer is inmourning or wishes to identify with the commemoration of a family member, friend, comrade or team member who has died. This use is particularly common in the first meeting following the loss of a member. PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt wore a black armband mourning the recent death of his mother at the time he signed the declaration of war against Japan in December 1941.[5] Inassociation football, it is common for a team to wear black armbands in their next match after the death of a former player or manager. This may also be accompanied by amoment of silence at the start of the match.
The phrase "black armband view of history" was introduced to the Australian political lexicon by conservative historianGeoffrey Blainey in 1993 to describe views of history which, he believed, posited that "much of Australian history had been a disgrace" and which focused mainly on the treatment of minority groups, especiallyAborigines.[6] The term was used by Prime MinisterJohn Howard, whose perspective on Australian history strongly contrasted with what he called the black armband view.[7]
Armbands were used by the indigenous with more various designs from each different tribes. The different tribes that used armbands each have different materials and designs for each armband. The materials that the indigenous people used was Metal, Rawhides, leather, and beads. Many tribes like theUte tribe,Algonquian tribes,Chippewa, Southeastern tribes, Northeastern tribes, Great Basin area tribes, Southwest tribes,Plateau tribe mostly common about their armbands. They use Floral or Geometrical designs on their armbands to give significance for their identity as themselves and part of their tribe.[8]
In cultures that used armbands for significance for identity as an individual and who they are in their tribe. Indigenous people use armbands for that exact reason, the armbands have designs to create the unique designs for their own identity. Beads are often used to create that uniqueness in designs. Beads that are mostly commonly used for designs but they show a story of who that indigenous person is.
Beads were used to make the designs unique. They got beads from trading with the settlers from the 1800s, many of the beads come in different colors and also they were commonly used as glass. They did different designs like floral from spot stitching and geometrical from lazy stitching.
Raw hides were also commonly used materials to make armbands because they are very comfortable to wear and they are easy to find in their area that they lived in. The indigenous people get their raw hide from deer, buffalo, cows, and goats.
