Did ancient Celtic women wear their hair to look like beards?

Krall

Banned
I was doing some vague research on Wikipedia recently on Celts, and I have a distinct memory of reading something about there being a tribe of Celts (or possibly Germans) where the women would grow their hair long and braid it in front of their necks, so that it looked like a beard. I've tried searching for it, but I honestly can't find where I read it!

Does anyone know if such a practice existed, or did I imagine the whole thing?

Thanks in advance! :)
 
Do read the summary that comes up when you put the mouse over the entry in the list of threads. It finishes with "I've tried". Gave me a smile at this time of the morning with a hard day ahead, thank you.
 
The tribe you are thinking of is the Lombards. The name is derived from Langobardi, which literally means long beards.

Wearing the hair in the form of a beard wasn't something the Lombard women did routinely. The Lombard sources (Paul the Deacon and the Origo Gentis Langobarorum) report the story as a foundation myth.

Here's the Wikipedia translation from the Origo:

The text mentions an island Scandanan, the home of the Winnili. Their ruler was a woman called Gambara, with her sons Ybor and Agio. The leaders of the Vandals, Ambri and Assi, asked them to pay them tribute, but they refused, saying they would fight them. Ambri and Assi then went to Godan, and asked him for victory over the Winnili. Godan replied that he would give the victory to whomever he saw first at sunrise. At the same time, Gambara and her sons asked Frea, Godan's wife, for victory. Frea advised that the women of the Winnili should tie their hair in front of their faces like beards and join their men for battle. At sunrise, Frea turned her husband's bed so that at he was facing east, and woke him. Godan saw the women of the Winnili, their hair tied in front of their faces, and asked "Who are these longbeards?", and Frea replied, since you named them, give them victory, and he did. From this day, the Winnili were called Langobardi, "longbeards".

Comment: I can't see why the women needed to wear their hair like beards -- just being in the right place at sunrise would have worked. However, the author isn't around to answer the question, so we are stuck with the story as is.
 

Krall

Banned
Do read the summary that comes up when you put the mouse over the entry in the list of threads. It finishes with "I've tried". Gave me a smile at this time of the morning with a hard day ahead, thank you.

Haha! Unfortunately my hair's currently too short to try it - not that I'm lacking in the beard department, but still. :p

The tribe you are thinking of is the Lombards. The name is derived from Langobardi, which literally means long beards.

Wearing the hair in the form of a beard wasn't something the Lombard women did routinely. The Lombard sources (Paul the Deacon and the Origo Gentis Langobarorum) report the story as a foundation myth.

Here's the Wikipedia translation from the Origo:

The text mentions an island Scandanan, the home of the Winnili. Their ruler was a woman called Gambara, with her sons Ybor and Agio. The leaders of the Vandals, Ambri and Assi, asked them to pay them tribute, but they refused, saying they would fight them. Ambri and Assi then went to Godan, and asked him for victory over the Winnili. Godan replied that he would give the victory to whomever he saw first at sunrise. At the same time, Gambara and her sons asked Frea, Godan's wife, for victory. Frea advised that the women of the Winnili should tie their hair in front of their faces like beards and join their men for battle. At sunrise, Frea turned her husband's bed so that at he was facing east, and woke him. Godan saw the women of the Winnili, their hair tied in front of their faces, and asked "Who are these longbeards?", and Frea replied, since you named them, give them victory, and he did. From this day, the Winnili were called Langobardi, "longbeards".

Comment: I can't see why the women needed to wear their hair like beards -- just being in the right place at sunrise would have worked. However, the author isn't around to answer the question, so we are stuck with the story as is.

Aha, thank you! :D I could've sworn I saw an image (a painting, not a photo) depicting women wearing their hair as beards as well - it was the image I was looking for, really, as I want to use it as reference for a drawing. It's possible that I imagined the image, though.
 
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