Fur Hats Preventing Wind and Cold
3 min readMen of Uygur, Kazak, Kirgiz, Tajik and other ethnic groups tend to wear all kinds of fur hats and felt hats for the cold weather in Xinjiang. The Uygur men always wear “Tumak”and “Kulakcha”.”Tumak”, made of sheepskin with fluff inside and dermatome outside, is shaped like a deep pot, on which, there are four large and thick edges, and its brim is covered with white or black burrs.
Uygur farmers always wear this kind of hat. Farmers living in Yengisar always wear “Tumak”with distinctive features which is about 30 cm tall with black lamb leather outside and sheepskin inside. It is elegant and handsome to wear this kind of hat, which looks very much like the ones worn by the English royal guard knights. City dwellers tend to wear “Kulakcha”-a round fur hat made of lambskin, marmot and marten in winter. This kind of hat has brims on both sides which can move up and down. Religious professionals always use white cloth to wrap around the head which is called “Selle”in the Uygur language.
The Kazak fur hat has its unique feature with fox fur or lamb skin inside and colorful satin outside. Their “Tumak”has four edges on the top, and threefans on the left and right ears and back neck respectively to prevent wind, snow and cold. There is another kind of pointed hat shaped like a cone-“Kulpara”. When it’s snowy and windy,a cowl-like hat (cloak) can be added. Ir summer, herdsmen tend to wear “Kalpak”which is sewed by the white felt or black flannelette. The nomads of the Altay often wear the cloth-made triangle scarf and towel cloth with the button in the forehead and head outside.
When it came to the Khalkhas, people naturally think of”Kalpak”(white felt cap). The white felt hat is the most distinctive clothing of the Kirgiz men. It also becomes an important symbol of Khalkhas. It was made of wool with a black cloth or black level covering under the inside, folding up and revealing edge; it either has an open or not at both sides, round or square on the top; some crown is decorated with beads and tassels. There is a folk legend around the Kirgiz: at first the ancient Kirgiz people wore black felt hat; on a dark night, the leader of Kirgiz-Manas Khan had a fight with the Kalmak(west Mongolian) and won a victory; the cunning enemy sneaked into the army of Manas for the Kalmak also worn the black felt hat, not only had they escaped from Mana’s chase, but also fought with Manas from the back which defeated Manas. Since then, in order to meet the demands of the war, Manas replaced the black felt hat with a white felt hat to be distinguished from the Kalmak. At first, the white felt hat was the army cap, and then gradually it became Kirgiz men’s hat.
“Tortsik Cap”is a kind of traditional Mongolian men’s hat which is round and similar to the skullcap, with red strips on the crown and earflaps.”TortsikCap”worn in winter is made of felt and its earflap is made of excellent animalskins like otter skin, mink and others, or satin, which is long.”Tortsik Cap”worn in spring and autumn is often made of satin. In summer, most of the Mongolian men like wearing a big dress hat to be natural and elegant.
Men of the Hui ethnic groupoften wear black or white small round caps to be neat and solemn.
Tajik men also wear”Tumak”in winter, but their caps are not the same with those of the other ethnic groups’. It is the cylinder top hat, which adopts high quality black sheep skin inside and black flannelette outside and is embedded with red, blue velvet and silk edge, and embroidered for the pattern. On warm days it can be rolled up and on cold days the cap edge can be pulled down to cover your face and ears to prevent you from wind and snow. Tajik men appear mighty and handsome when their hats on.
