Easter Hat Traditions
Our female ancestors always wore hats, styles that changed over the decades. Since about the 1970s and 1980s it has been much less a fashion statement for women to wear hats.
One very traditional hat our female ancestors loved wearing was their finest ‘Easter hat or bonnet’, usually a nice new one worn to the Easter Sunday church services.
With Easter marking close to spring, new clothes for the ladies including hats were in order, marking a new beginning. Even if they couldn’t afford new clothes or a hat, for sure they would have new accessories such as ribbons.
The idea of an Easter bonnet became popular after Irving Berlin wrote in 1933 a ballad about the bonnets in the New York Easter parade which was along 5th Avenue. This parade started in the 1870s. Dressing in one’s finest for Easter Sunday at church was followed by the parade to show off your outfit and hat.
You could go back to the family photo album and find several photos of family members all dressed for Easter and especially the ladies wearing a new hat.
A New York Easter Parade is scheduled for Easter Sunday, April 17, 2022. There should be men and women sporting some very non-traditional Easter hats with balloons and feathers for sure.
Photo: Group in the Easter parade in NYC in the 1910s;
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