In the Russian language there is a very apt word "fool". It has two meanings: "cut your hair carelessly or too shortly" and "cheat, cheat". It seems that one has nothing to do with the other. But there were times when things were completely different … Many peoples composed legends and myths dedicated not so much to heroes as to their … hair. Hair since ancient times was considered to be "antennas" that receive the energy of space. Supposedly, the longer and thicker they are, the more energy a person has.
Curly beard
The strength of the biblical hero Samson lay precisely in the hair; the Philistines managed to take him prisoner only after Samson's beloved Delilah cut him off. It is not by chance that informals grow long hair. And in armies and prisons, soldiers and prisoners are shaved not only for hygienic reasons. A shaved head is a symbol of submission, rejection of one's own personality. For the same reason, Orthodox monks are tonsured, and Buddhist monks shave baldly. So, in the view of the ancients, a short haircut and deception were interconnected. A person who was deprived of hair, and hence of strength, could easily be carried out. Fool once, fool again, but in a different sense.
By the way, it is no coincidence that men were considered more perfect creatures than women. After all, their hair grew not only on the head, but also on the face. Our ancestors could not imagine themselves without a beard and mustache. It is about the bearded men that we will talk about.
Bearded queen
Nobody knows what God looks like. But for some reason, everyone who undertakes to portray him draws a portrait of an old man with a long beard. Apostles, church hierarchs, kings and heroes - all bearded! On ancient frescoes, only then can you see the beardless and beardless ruler when he is depicted at a young age. The "bearded" rule knows no other exceptions.
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In one of the most ancient civilizations - Egyptian - the beard was revered as a symbol of wisdom and supreme power. She was an indispensable attribute of the Pharaoh. Even queens were supposed to have a beard! So, Queen Hatshepsut every morning, before ascending to the throne, put on a specially made "beard" of gold and precious stones. The world famous Egyptian Sphinx was also bearded at one time. This gigantic monument was erected in the 3rd century BC and had a false beard several tens of meters long. There are two versions to explain her disappearance. According to the first, at the beginning of our millennium, the Muslims, who considered it a pagan idol, tried to destroy the Sphinx. But under the blows of the ax, only part of the nose and beard collapsed. According to the second version, the symbol of Egypt "interfered" with Napoleon. The conqueror decidedthat the monument defies his might, and ordered the artillery to fire at the Sphinx. But again only the nose and beard were destroyed, which seemed to be protecting the monument itself. In the 19th century, European merchants stole the fallen off part of the beard. It is now in the British Museum.
Not only monarchs wore beards. Remember what Socrates, Mendeleev, Einstein looked like! Take a look at the portraits of renowned sages and scholars! The 17 most prominent philosophers all have beards and mustaches. Of the 73 great mathematicians, 28 wore beards and mustaches, 8 only had mustaches, and four more had sideburns. Among physicists, the alignment is as follows: 25 bearded, 8 mustachioed, 7 with sideburns and only 20 smooth-shaven. Of the 46 founders of chemistry, 11 had both a beard and a mustache, 5 had a mustache and 11 had sideburns. Of course, the conclusion about a direct connection between mental abilities and facial hair is untenable. But the statistics are more than curious!
Size and color matter
For our ancestors, the beard symbolized not only wisdom, but also honor. There was no worse offense than pulling or spitting at the beard. The warriors, preparing for battle, especially carefully tied up their beards in order to protect them from dishonor. The commanders of Ancient Rome considered this custom unnecessary: the army took too long to prepare for an attack, beards interfered with the soldiers. That is why the Romans were the first in the world to start the custom of shaving and … fell under the onslaught of bearded barbarians.
Mystical properties were also attributed to the beard. In the Maasai tribe, the rainmaker is traditionally prohibited from trimming, shaving or plucking facial hair - otherwise he will lose his miraculous ability. They say that it was thanks to his long beard that Sergius of Radonezh foresaw the victory of the Russian army in the Battle of Kulikovo. Even before he received the news of this victory, Sergius served a thanksgiving service in his church.
It was not only the length that mattered, but also the color of the beard. Everyone knows Bluebeard! And yet there was also the famous Blackbeard - she adorned the face of the 18th century pirate Edward Teach. His beard began from the very eyes and ended near the knee. Teach braided her in a braid and wrapped her around her head. Even the pirate's executioners - and he was executed - did not dare to deprive him of this unique "decoration". After the execution, Teach's head was put on a stake and exposed for all to see - a long black beard fluttering in the wind. In ancient China, red beards dyed in a special way were held in special honor, they symbolized courage.
Bearded men "with experience" preferred to undergo severe punishment, just to keep their beards. In the annals of the American Navy, the story of an old sea wolf, whose beard was too long, irritated the command was preserved. But the sailor did not give in to any persuasion, was not afraid of threats and did not shave his beard, even when he was whipped and put in prison. Having freed himself, the stubborn man proudly showed his acquaintances his beard, which had become even longer. He weaved a red lace into it, and red, as you know, is the color of victory.
Beard mind not waiting
In this context, the ardent protests of the Petrine boyars, whom the tsar forced to bare their faces, no longer seem whimsical. In August 1698, Peter returned from a trip abroad to Moscow. The boyars gathered to bow to the monarch. Contrary to custom, that morning, the entrance to the palace was open to everyone. The boyars felt a trick, but they could not even imagine what awaited them! Peter hugged everyone, and then … drew out huge scissors and began to cut beards. Not a trace remained of the solidity and severity of the boyars - around were shamelessly naked, new, unfamiliar faces with red cheeks and drooping chins. After that, wherever the king appeared, everyone who had beards turned out to be beardless. The beards were cut off dry, hastily, along with the skin and meat.
The boyars condemned their king. There were also those who, after parting with their beards, committed suicide. All over Russia they murmured: was it a heard thing to cut beards! After all, the beard is from God. It was worn by both Christ and the apostles, and Ivan the Terrible used to say that shaving a beard is a sin that will not wash away the blood of all the great martyrs. The priests refused to bless the beardless. In a word, in pre-Petrine Russia, an equal sign was put between the beard and Orthodoxy. And Peter's actions were seen as an attempt on the very foundations of Russian life.
Indeed, shaving beards was not just the fun of the young tsar (Peter was 26 years old), it did not come from a desire to follow Western fashion. He dreamed of breaking old Russia, building a new one, and for this he needed to know: who really supported the reforms, and who condemned them behind their backs. Peter bared the boyar faces and watched their reaction, as if checking his subjects for loyalty. It soon became clear that shaving beards is a phenomenon of the same order as changing the calendar and money, building a fleet, introducing city government. All this served one purpose - the renewal of the state.
By the way, it was in the times of Peter the Great that the saying “The mind does not wait for a beard” appeared.
Peter I vice versa
And nowadays there are bearded men for whom facial hair means much more than just a feature. They do not want to part with their beard no less than the Petrine boyars. Beard and mustache are held in high esteem in Muslim countries. The saying “I swear by the beard of the Prophet” is very popular here. By the way, a hair from the beard of the Prophet Muhammad is kept as a relic in the city of Srinagar. True, ironically, many leaders of Muslim countries shave (for example, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat does not wear a beard). But for mere mortals, the beard is sacred!
In Iranian hairdressing salons, you will not meet a single client who wants to shave. But in the local beauty salons there is no end to the youths who, by hook or by crook, strive to accelerate the growth of facial hair. It's not only aesthetic considerations (in the East, a bearded man has long been considered handsome), but also social prestige. It is almost impossible to make a career in Iran with a thin beard. All members of the government, with the exception of one and only one, are bearded, but what a! Recently, the bearded president was replaced by a bearded one. And there is no need to talk about the spiritual leader of Iran. Almost the only beardless Iranians are Koran readers. However, it is rumored that many of them castrate themselves to improve their voice.
Surprisingly, in Iran, by the facial hair, one can even judge the political views of a person. For example, supporters of the leftist views here wear a lush mustache hanging over the upper lip, called "communist". They were brought into fashion by the leaders of the People's Party of Iran, banned after the Islamic revolution. On the contrary, a thin mustache that goes around the corners of the mouth is considered "bourgeois".
But the Afghan fundamentalists are especially zealous about returning the beard to its former significance. If Peter I was intolerant of the bearded men, then the Taliban act exactly the opposite. Taliban supreme leader Mohammad Omar even signed a decree obliging all adult men to wear beards no shorter than the prescribed length. The length is measured like this. The beard is wrapped around the hand under the chin. If the tip sticks out of the fist, then everything is in order. If not … it is fraught with many troubles, up to and including dismissal from work. Last year, the Taliban fired 66 government officials whose beards were too short. Moreover, in each Afghan province, special departments have been created to monitor the implementation of the "bearded" decree. The Taliban do not accept any objections, the lack of a beard for them is tantamount to disobeying the authorities. Therefore, posts are set up at border posts that not only check documents, but also measure the length of the beards. The beardless are considered criminals and are imprisoned, where they are held until they are well overgrown. Those whose beards do not grow in principle are forced to flee from the severity of the Taliban to neighboring states.
Beard - telepathic and sex symbol
But, perhaps, with regard to the beard, it is still too early to repeat the well-known saying that history repeats itself twice: first in the form of a tragedy, then in the form of a farce. It's too early to discount the beard. Of course, the Taliban have taken the idea of reviving beards to the point of absurdity. But in European countries, the beard is still revered, endowed with a sacred meaning. Many superstitions and signs are associated with her, as with hair in general.
Psychics say that bearded men are much better at capturing thoughts and moods from a distance. One Moscow doctor conducted an elementary experiment on himself - he grew a mustache and a beard. And then wonderful things began to happen in his life. As soon as he remembered one of his acquaintances, this person called him or came to visit. Moreover, this rule applied not only to close friends, but also to people whom the bearded man saw once or twice in his life. With a beard, the doctor also connects his ability to guess the feelings of people at a distance. He can even mentally determine a person's health status and diagnose him. The doctor recalls: “While in Moscow, I intuitively felt when my mother was feeling worse - she lived in the Ivanovo region, called her and gave her recommendations by phone. Only once did I feel anything. And this time turned out to be fatal! Mom's illness worsened so much that she died a few days later. Three days before she became ill, I shaved off my mustache and beard …”After the death of my mother, the doctor let go of the beard again and now never shaves it off.
Many people know the sign: on the eve of exams or some important things, you can't get your hair cut - you will lose your memory and strength. This simple rule is followed with particular care by students and pilots who, on the eve of flights, not only do not cut their hair, but also do not shave. (By the way, it is believed that women should not have their hair cut during pregnancy.)
In addition, many men are afraid of razors like fire, because shaving their beards is associated with castration. The same Muslims believe that masculine strength is contained in the facial hair. Allegedly, it is precisely because of the demographic crisis in Europe that European men shave their beards. In the East, the opposite is true: you cannot find a beardless person with fire in the daytime, and an average family has four children. Some psychologists are generally inclined to view the beard as a sexual symbol, something like an analogue of the penis. The beard hater German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer wrote: “The beard, like a half mask, must be prohibited by police measures. In addition, as a gender difference on the face, it is obscene; that's why women like her."
Women really like bearded men. And let the beard interfere with kissing, but it's so beautiful!