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Awitch hat is a style ofhat worn bywitches in popular culture depictions, characterized by aconical crown and a wide brim.
The origins of the witch hat as displayed today are disputed.
One theory is that the image arose out ofantisemitism: in 1215, theFourth Council of the Lateran issued an edict that all Jews must wear identifying headgear, a pointed cap known as aJudenhut. Potentially, this style of hat then became associated withblack magic,Satan-worship and other acts of which the Jews were accused.[1]
Another theory posits that the witch hat has origins in thephrygian cap which is associated withMithraism, a Greek and then Roman mystery cult.[citation needed]
A similar theory posits that the image of the archetypal witch hat was born from anti-Quaker prejudice. Although the hats traditionally worn by Quakers themselves were not pointed, Quaker caps were a focus of cultural controversy, and it is conceivable that thePuritan backlash against Quakers in the mid-18th century contributed to hats becoming part of the iconography of the demonic.[1]
Yet another hypothesis proposes that witch hats originated asalewife hats, distinctive headgear worn by women who home-brewed beer for sale. According to this suggestion, these hats gained negative connotations when the brewing industry, dominated by men, accused alewives of selling diluted or tainted beer. In combination with the general suspicion that women with knowledge ofherbology were working in an occult domain, the alewife hat could have become associated with witchcraft.[2]
L. Frank Baum's 1900 novelThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz featured illustrations that portrayed theWicked Witch of the West sporting a tall, conical hat.[3] This fashion accessory was carried over for the1939 film adaptation, in which the Wicked Witch was played by character actressMargaret Hamilton.
Witch hats have been worn by a number of fictional characters, including:
Depending upon the material in which the hat is made, the crown may regularly be observed in a flexed, bent or crumpled condition.
