Fez was picked to be the official headgear by Mahmud II to symbolize "Ottoman citizenry" regardless of religious and ethnic difference, since similar tasseled caps was used in Balkans, Greece and Anatolia, and particularly red ones with tassels used in Morocco regardless of religious affiliation. It is strange that an attempt to secularize the Ottoman Empire by the Sultan is nowadays falsely percceived to be a "muslim symbol" by particularly the westerners.
It seems I was lucky to somehow avoid that. I first saw a fez in Doctor Who, later learned it was worn in Turkey in the 1800’s and went “oh guess it must be an ottoman thing.”
I think the particular Fez the Ottomans wore, by at least the Young Turk generation WAS to show Islamic solidarity though. But yeah, the fez in general doesn't have to be Muslim.
@@HatredForMankind This is a common misnomer. The Young Turk society was a natural progression from the Young Ottoman movement, which was full of Muslim reformists rather than atheists and irreligious people. The Young Turks wanted to modernise, but not westernise. Enver Paşa, for example, opposed a language script swap from Arabic to Latin, considering that a form of denegrating Ottoman culture. The Young Turks were influenced by atheists in France, but they themselves were mostly Muslim. The Young Turks were even lead by some Muslim scholars who supported overthrowing the Ottoman Monarch.
I never made the connection before that Fezes in American pop culture are used to symbolize a character being somewhat mystical and mysterious. Which I guess comes back to the Shriners, and their decision to co-opt Turkish symbolism. I guess Egyptian culture sort of functions in a similar way in our culture, with anything using the symbolism of pyramids or hieroglyphics carrying a similar air of exoticism and mysteriousness.
My impression is that the Fez is a classy icon,because old american media has the stereotype of the man of the house reading by the fireplace wearing a nightgown ,a fez and smoking a pipe.
It's also very stylish. Also you forgot my favourite fun fact about these Reforms: The way some people silently rebelled against them by wearing the traditional turban UNDER the Fez cap technically following the law in the letter but not in the spirit.
@@goldenfiberwheat238 I think there are pictures and where the turban is worn over the fez, not under it. They wrap the turban around the fez and you can still see the top of the fez.
You don't, if you look at some paintings of the era they basically just wear the turban and have the fez kinda stuck on top in the little nook in the middle@@goldenfiberwheat238
We used to have a Farmers' Market in Lansing next to the Convention Center. One of my favorite vendors was an old Lebanese woman, Mama Seif, who made great soups and pastries. She was always very happy and friendly and fun to talk to. One day, there was a Shriners' convention in town. A number of them went to the Farmers' Market for lunch; I arrived in the middle of it. I found the normally garrulous Mama Seif sitting very quietly, arms folded, looking wary, even a bit angry. When I went to her table, she leaned over and whispered, "Who are all these men wearing fezzes?" I looked around and said, oh, they must be Shriners. "Why are they here?" I shrugged and said they must be having a convention. "But what do they want?" she asked, watching them from the corner of her eye. She seemed to be getting nervous, and I realized she wasn't familiar with the Shriners. So I explained they are a benevolent society that puts on events to raise money for children's hospitals. She leaned back, still a bit wary but also now confused. "But why are they wearing fezzes?" I'm not an expert, but I told her my understanding is that the Shriners were formed in the 1920s. That was the same time as the discovery of King Tut's tomb, which led to a big fad for Egyptian imagery in fashion, jewelry, architecture, etc. The Shriners picked up the fez simply because it was popular at the time. At this, she relaxed a bit. She explained that when she was a little girl in Lebanon -- probably the 1940s -- the people wearing fezzes were the bad guys, the trouble-makers. She didn't get more specific than that, but clearly the fez had a negative, dangerous connotation for her.
Fascinating example of cyclic change in history, how any symbol of revolution or reform becomes one of tradition or conservatism given enough time. Reminds me of Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, "Our old ways were once new."
I traveled around Greece and Turkey last year and it was interesting that despite the fez being associated with Turks the only people I saw wearing fezes in all my time there was on the heads of the guards of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Greece, not Turkey.
That's because when Greece fought for its independence from the Ottoman Empire fezes were the standard head wear among Greeks, while Turks wore turbans. In the course of the 19th century use of the fez waned in Greece, as it was replaced by more western hats while coming to be increasingly associated with the Ottomans. But it was part of the light infantry (Evzones) uniform, even as all other soldiers wore hats like those worn in western European armies, all the way up to WWII (the field fez was dyed olive green by then). The last Evzones are now a ceremonial unit guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
@@aokiaoki4238 the international name of this hat is Fez Fez is the old capital of Morocco In Morocco we have coins from the era of Mauretania with Fez hat In the book of the African lyon he described the citizens of the city of fezy wearing a red hat called Fez Fez hat is very famous of Morocco and it's the official clothes with the white jelaba Moroccan king is always wearing a Fez hat
The fez cap also know as tarboosh may have been made famous by the Ottomans but it's origins are from Morocco which the Turks call Fas/Fez--- Fez being the historic capital of Morocco. The origins of this cap go back to the moors who were expulsed from Iberia following the reconquista and who migrated mainly to the kingdom of Morocco but also to the Ottoman empire. They wore this hat to symbolize their mourning for the loss of Al-Andalus.
@@Great.MauriciaMany of the 'moriscos' expelled from Spain were just southern spaniards from recently conquered land in Andalucia and Granada, not even all of them were muslim converts. Most of them spoke Andalucian Spanish, not Amazigh or Arabic. Some of the signs of being a 'moor' that would get you expelled were genuinely arbitrary: living near a Jew, failing to spot and report a foreign ship, being multilingual, playing the hurdy gurdy, dancing, having any disagreements with a local priest, someone reporting you to the inquisition.... The idea that millions of moroccans poured into iberia, sat in total isolation, then were thrown out and the land purified is just total nonsense. The biggest catalyst for 'morisco' and 'converso' expulsion was free peasant communities in Aragon having low taxes and autonomy, clashing with neighbouring aristocrats. And it should tell you so much that many 'moors' were north spaniards opposed to a violently centralising crown
2:38 Greek lithograph celebrating the Young Turk revolt in 1908 and the re-introduction of a constitutional regime in the Ottoman Empire. The angel holds a calico bearing the words "freedom, equality, brotherhood".
I love the symbolism of the change in Ottoman and later Turkish headwear always being about seeming more modern In the 15-1600s the massive turbans were a representation of their power and culture. But like you say as the years went on they became to appear outdated and the Fez became the head wear of the modern man Until Attaturks reforms that saw all old or religious head dresses banned and replaced with western style top hats or just none at all.
In Egypt we kept wearing the Fez(we call it Tarboush in Arabic) till the 1950s when the Monarchy, Feudalism and the concept of nobility and noble families was abolished by the socalist leader Gamal abdel Nasser, in his view the Fez was a symbol of hierarchical rich social classes and a reminder of a period in which Egypt was under British occupation Edit: A funny story that happened was that Atatürk was once visited by an Egyptian official and the Egyptian was naturally wearing a Fez, which made Atatürk angry and told him to take that thing off
When I was in primary school, the walls of the building were full of paintings of Greece's revolutionary heroes. Most of them, including Botsaris, Miaoulis, Karaiskakis etc. are depicted wearing a fez.
Yeah, that's the orientalist approach the video was talking about, lol. Whay you call "mystical symbols" is actually just casual Turkish words, written in Arabic script.
I never really knew that much about the history of the fez in the first place, but in my mind I always sorta associated it more with Moroccan culture than with the Ottomans. Interesting
@@KawtarEnniya-yz9vd more like they didn’t want to, because the Ottoman Algerian forces entered the capital of Morocco twice (1554 and 1574) to place (more friendly) kings rather than occupy a distant land with weak strategic value for the Ottoman as the Barbary corsairs were enough trouble for Europe. The battle you mentioned was not really important as the Ottoman Algerian forces won a decisive victory against the Spanish three months later only, this was enough to convince the petty Moroccan king not to freak beyond his eastern borders. So framing it like it was the ottomans that wanted to colonise your country even though all your wars were offensive is rather misleading.
@@nourerrahmanebrahmia4035 1. The turks could not conquer Morocco...they were at war with the spanish Habsburgs in the 16th century...they would have loved having Morocco under their domination...but they werent successful, simple as that. 2. There was nothing called ottoman-algerian...what you call algeria was under full domination from the turks...the turks controlled the state of algiers, its army and its administration...algerians were considered an inferior race...even the ruler of algiers was appointed directly by Istanbul in the 16th and 17th century.
I think the use of Fezzes to show wacky characters who dealt with mysticism might've been at least in part inspired by Welsh stage magician Tommy Cooper,
Sorry but Word "Fez" is the name of the main town of Morocco. So The fez originated in the city of Fez, Morocco, in the early 19th century. It was constructed of felt, which was dyed red with the juice from berries that grew outside of the city. The hat’s tassel was usually made of silk or wool. In Morocco, leaders such as Moulay Sharif ibn Ali were recorded sporting the more structured Tarbush with an ‘amamahwrapped around the Tarbush as early as the 1600s. This would become a popular way of wearing the Tarbush as it helped stabilize the ‘Amamah. To this day, The King of Morocco, the princes of Morocco, and even the Moroccan people still wear this hat, and it is considered among the cultural legacies that they cherish. If you enter museums in Morocco, you will find pictures of all the sultans of Morocco, the princes of Morocco, and the judges of Morocco throughout the ages in pictures wearing this hat, as it is called. In Fez, because it was made for the first time in the Moroccan city of Fez. For reference, the Ottomans did not enter Morocco and were not able to colonize it because they lost the war with the Moroccans in several battles, the last and most famous of which was the Battle of Oued El-Laban, so Morocco remained the only country that was not colonized by the Ottomans.
@@fortpark-wd9sx"In 1545 Ali Abu Hassun, the Wattasid ruler in northern Morocco, recognised the full authority of the Ottoman sultan, sent a letter of submission and declared himself an Ottoman vassal thus attributing a vassal status to Fez."
Actually the fez cap is that the ottoman adapted is a Moroccan invention (it clearly in the name, ottoman used to call morocco by the name of the old capital Fez). The ottoman merchants that used to visit Essaouira were the ones that introduced to the ottoman.
Word "Fez" is the name of the main town of Morocco. So The fez originated in the city of Fez, Morocco, in the early 19th century. It was constructed of felt, which was dyed red with the juice from berries that grew outside of the city. The hat’s tassel was usually made of silk or wool. In Morocco, leaders such as Moulay Sharif ibn Ali were recorded sporting the more structured Tarbush with an ‘amamahwrapped around the Tarbush as early as the 1600s. This would become a popular way of wearing the Tarbush as it helped stabilize the ‘Amamah. To this day, The King of Morocco, the princes of Morocco, and even the Moroccan people still wear this hat, and it is considered among the cultural legacies that they cherish. If you enter museums in Morocco, you will find pictures of all the sultans of Morocco, the princes of Morocco, and the judges of Morocco throughout the ages in pictures wearing this hat, as it is called. In Fez, because it was made for the first time in the Moroccan city of Fez. For reference, the Ottomans did not enter Morocco and were not able to colonize it because they lost the war with the Moroccans in several battles, the last and most famous of which was the Battle of Oued El-Laban, so Morocco remained the only country that was not colonized by the Ottomans.
Interestingly Austria was the biggest manufacturer of the fez. When Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia in 1908, a boycott started in the Ottomans against Austrian products, including the fez. This boycott was supported by the new CUP government, joining the internal political struggles of the time. And it also led to the discussions about developing a national industry (which as you might know the new republic of Turkey was very keen on.) So when the new Hat Law was put in place in the new republic of Turkey, the reputation of the fez was already in decline. While Atatürk's reforms were no doubt revolutionary, most of them carried precedence and weren't the decisions of "a dictator destroying his own culture" as some might think. (if this came off as very pseudo-academical and pretentious, bear in mind that i don't know anything about anything.)
I've always found it funny that staunch conservative traditionalist ottomanists in Turkey latch on to the fez, the original rejection of the traditional ottoman identity. The fez was so European that the Ottoman Empire imported most of it from Austria. And when the Austrians annexed Bosnia the population of the empire in important rage tried to boycott the fez, beat up people wearing fez on the streets etc.
I found this to be quite an informative video! I never thought much of the fez cap, but now, I know about the great irony of the fez: it was adopted by the Ottoman Empire as a symbol of modernity, yet in just a century, both the Europeans and Ataturk saw it as old-fashioned... and now, it's relegated to secret societies and cartoon characters. Thanks for the information!
You can clearly see Orientalism in the Dodecanese under Italian rule. Especially towards Muslims and Jews that lived there. That is the main reason why Rhodes become a major vacation hotspot for Europe. And it remained so to this day.
Muslims in Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia & South Philippines) adapted their own version of the fez called peci/songkok. Normally black, oblong in shape, and without a tassel. It's still prominently worn today, especially by government officials.
Hey! Noticed you bringing up the topic of orientalism. While orientalism was applied in the way you stated it was, it should be noted that the attitude present in orientalism was not strictly about the Middle East, but about Asia on the whole. Broadly speaking, there is still a lot of orientalism to go around today- though perhaps with a bit more nuance (which doesn't make it less racist) than there was in the 1800s and 1900s.
3:36 - Selim III. actually wasn't Mahmut's father, but a cousin. Ottoman dynasty in the 18th century practiced the seniorate succession - i.e. before you could ascend the throne, all of your father's brothers have to take their turn sitting on it. As a result, Mahmut's actual father Abdülhamit was almost 50 when he took the throne.
During the Crimean War (1853-1856) the Kingdom of Sardinia sent a contingent of around 15.000 men, including the Bersaglieri, a historic unit of the Italian Army, they were a light-assault infantry (today they shifted to Mechanized Heavy and Medium Infantry). During the time in Crimea, they came into contact with the Ottoman soldiers wearing Fez, and they loved them so much that they adopted them as fatigue caps and they still use them today. And Fez was also used by the fascists.
3:30 Loved this video but I have to point out two corrections: The image you used is not the auspicious event of 1826 but of the siege and conquest of Zigetvar in 1566. Sultan Selim III was Sultan Mahmud II's cousin, not father, Mahmud and Selim's grandfather was Sultan Ahmed III, who fathered Sultan Mustafa III and his brother/successor Sultan Abdülhamid I, the former was the father of Selim III and the latter was the father of Mahmud II.
Because of the ottomans, the fez is actually a cultural hat for Jews. Although not common in Israel, Jews in Egypt, Iran, and Yemen still wear their Fez in public life. I have mine from my childhood although I don't wear it much in America.
"...one of the most common forms of orientalism is this idea developed by imperialist Europe where they believed that the West was modern, flexible, able to progress and the Middle East on the other hand was this exotic land, lost in time, holding on to these mysterious traditions, backwards ways of life unable to change". 7:42 Objectively, is this not how Arabs of the time began more and more to see themselves? Of course, not as "exotic" but, having been a force the world over for centuries before their crushing defeat by Napoleon, the invasion absolutely caused a shift in their worldview and a self-image. Before that the Arabs under the Ottoman sultanate saw themselves as the pinnacle of enlightenment during the Islamic Golden Age while Europe was still the backwards neighbor as that coincided with their dark age. Their institutions were more advanced, their bureaucracy more effective than what they had seen of Europe until Napoleon showed them that Europe had bypassed them while the Middle East had a stagnated. Once they realized that they were so ossified under the Ottomans and behind the times, they are quick catch-up game in the form of al-Nahda which did wonders for the modernization of their arts and institutions and outlook modeled on what they saw of Europe at the time. The Muslim world had a swift realization of its military inferiority when Napoleon was able to crush their cavalry in Egypt on the merit of its innovative and flexible tactics plus their integration of artillery (which is ironically the same factor that secured ottoman military dominance two centuries prior), their civil institutions were modernized when Napoleon instituted equal rights for their religious minorities, Egyptians didn't study their past until Napoleon brought scholars and academics who founded the Institut d'Egypt and excavated the Rosetta Stone for example. Modernization brought to them, if not forced upon them was clear for each literate citizen when Napoleon brought the most advanced printing presses to exist in the Arabic-speaking world, increasing the viability of the local and national administration. This was so successful that it was the basis of the standardized form of the modern Arabic script still used today. East and West had reason to see the Arab polity as inflexible and antiquated.
Just a tiny correction. The Ottomans didn't wear turbans due to the religious reasons you listed actually. Turbans were entirely a cultural phenomena, and were not worn because the Prophet wore them. The actual religious reason Sultans wore those onion-shaped turbans (this wasn't worn by the Prophet, who wore a simple turban, often described as being red, black and green) so that it represents their graves above them. Those turbans were made of the cloth Muslims were normally buried with, so that wherever the Sultan died, he would be wrapped with the material of the turban and either buried or put in a mausoleum. It was meant to symbolise and remind the Sultan that he wasn't an absolute being and that he would one day die like everyone else. Due to this, many Sultans to not be reminded of death, often wore a long top headcovering along with the fact the turban was a bit heavy.
The giant onion they wore is not a turban. It's either a sarık or a kavuk. The difference between these three is hard to tell from a westerner point of view, but ottoman officials never wore a turban. Before sarık, governence was old school gazi system, basically a warrior caste, and they wore börk, puşt, kalpak or other traditional Turkish caps. Later institutions adopted sarık but by the time of Mahmut II kavuk was the way to go and its third iteration if I'm not mistaken.
Ironically, the most Turkish headwear is worn in celebration in the West every Christmas. It's the Phyrgian hat aka the Santa hat. Phyrgia referring to the Kingdom that used to be in the Anatolian highlands.
Thanks for getting the Shriners in there at the end. My father was a Shriner, and as a child I remember going to the annual Shriner picnic and seeing all these fancy Fez caps, many way fancier than my father's.
The fex cap is a direct descendant of the Phrygian cap, the only difference really being the blocking of the felt and the addition of the tassel, though I suppose one could suggest that the French floret from the Revolution is a logical substitution.
Oh Oh! I know the answer to this one! Before the advent of the Fez, the people of the Ottoman Empire perceived the world in 2 dimensions. The Fez allowed them to shift their perspective, and see the world as it really is, in 3 dimensions.
I once ordered a brimless rain cap to fold away and put in my shoulder bag. I discarded it when I got all sorts of comments on my assumed religion and people even started offering me rides in the rain who apparently were of that religion. I'm just trying to keep my head dry people, honestly.
ataturk might have banned it in turkey, but it was still used in most of the middle east. it stayed in use well into the 60s and 70s....even today you might find old men wearing it , specially in villages
I have a photograph of my grandfather wearing a Fez cap during his military service in Africa. He was sent to Sidi Ifni which was one of spanish possesions in what is nowadays Morroco.
Instead of repeatedly saying "Caliph of Islam" you should have said "Caliph of _Sunni_ Islam". Though it should be noted that no Caliph after the Umayyad dynasty fell in 750 were universally accepted by all Sunni Muslims. That's not to say that all the Umayyads were popular either, because they weren't.
Imagine if there were any culture around the world that couldn't stop criticizing themselves for the way they treat other people, while at the same time excusing the way everyone else behaves...
Fez was taken from Morocco by Ottomans to create an identity for Ottoman citizens. Fez is the city of Morocco and in Ottoman and today’ Anatolia the name for Morocco is Fas (Fez).
actually its way more simple than that fez was the cheapest headgear available for poor auxiliary soldiers and this why it was common before the 19th century and this is why it was chosen by the french military missions to turky and egypt in 1820s not by the sultan as it is commonly believed