AHC: Widespread Culture Where Men Veil Their Faces

[Incognito]

From what I read about culture of Tuareg people of North Africa, unlike what may be stereotypically expected from a "North African/Middle Eastern" culture, it is Tuareg men rather than Tuareg women who are expected to veil their face in presence of strangers.





So the challenge is to come up with a way for a "men must cover their face in public" tradition to become widespread in large part of the world. It doesn't have to involve Tuareg or Middle East if you don't want to.

[Alex Richards]

Perhaps a sect that takes the line that 'man was created in God's image' in a different direction, holding that the male face, or at least the face of male practicers of the religion, is a reflection of the divine and thus can only be shown when one is in the presence of known brothers of faith.

[Wolfpaw]

Well, Muslim men are supposed to cover all of their body hair. Perhaps a particularly zealous emir extends this policy to beards/the face in general.

[Iori]

Have something like what happened with Islam, basically have a group that lives in desert or Arctic environment where their's sandstorms or Blizzards relatively frequently develop a head covering to prtect them during them and then have a religion develop that later adopts it as religious clothing.

[Minchandre]

The biggest issue I see is practicality. Women veiling their faces began in the upper classes (in Byzantium), among women who basically didn't do a whole lot all day. But a man who has to be in the army, or manage his workers, or give a speech before the assembled nobility...obscuring his face in these situations is too damaging.

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

Umm... Beards
Lots of cultures veil faces with facial hair...

[Max Sinister]

Which ones, for example?

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

Originally Posted by Max Sinister

Which ones, for example?

If you are talking beards, the us in the late 19th century, say; modern Amish, etc.

Not a full veiling, but boy, most guys look hardly recognizable if they shave off/grow a beard.

The Amish even are shamed by beard cutting, see recent news articles.

Also good Sikhs grow full beards, and many not quite sso observant ones have trimmed ones. Part of (consequence of?) the 5Ks.

[Malta Shah]

Introduce Tusken Raiderism to the world.

Originally Posted by Dathi THorfinnsson

If you are talking beards, the us in the late 19th century, say; modern Amish, etc.

Not a full veiling, but boy, most guys look hardly recognizable if they shave off/grow a beard.

The Amish even are shamed by beard cutting, see recent news articles.

Also good Sikhs grow full beards, and many not quite sso observant ones have trimmed ones. Part of (consequence of?) the 5Ks.

The Amish and Sikhs are the closest thing we have to Dwarves?