A wamus is a type of jacket worn in the United States. The term is applied to several different types of upper-body garment.
One of the more consistent uses of wamus is to describe a fringed leather tunic that slips over the head. [1] [2] For early American pioneer families in the Southern United States, the buckskin (later, cloth) wamus was widely worn by young and pre-teen boys in the late 18th and very early 19th century. [3] The wamus, if it opened down the front, was either laced shut or held closed with a belt, with dressier versions made from elk skin. [1] If made from cloth, the wamus was dyed blue and trimmed with yellow fringe. [1]
As worn by the Lakota people, the wamus was a ceremonial tunic which was coloured to represent the type of person the wearer was, as well as painted with mnemonic designs. [2] Traditionally, if a warrior had scalped his enemy, he was allowed to trim his wamus with human hair cut from the heads of mourning women in addition to the cut fringe. [2]
The wamus eventually came to describe a sleeved jacket or cardigan, typically with buttoned wristbands and a belt-like waistband, in which format, it was also sometimes called a roundabout. [4] [5] [6]
For Sunday best and other special occasions Amish men wear a jacket called a wamus, distinct from the 'mutze' traditionally worn for preaching. [7] [8]
Roundabout — A name for a certain kind of jacket. (See Wamus.)
A wamus is a type of jacket worn in the United States. The term is applied to several different types of upper-body garment.
One of the more consistent uses of wamus is to describe a fringed leather tunic that slips over the head. [1] [2] For early American pioneer families in the Southern United States, the buckskin (later, cloth) wamus was widely worn by young and pre-teen boys in the late 18th and very early 19th century. [3] The wamus, if it opened down the front, was either laced shut or held closed with a belt, with dressier versions made from elk skin. [1] If made from cloth, the wamus was dyed blue and trimmed with yellow fringe. [1]
As worn by the Lakota people, the wamus was a ceremonial tunic which was coloured to represent the type of person the wearer was, as well as painted with mnemonic designs. [2] Traditionally, if a warrior had scalped his enemy, he was allowed to trim his wamus with human hair cut from the heads of mourning women in addition to the cut fringe. [2]
The wamus eventually came to describe a sleeved jacket or cardigan, typically with buttoned wristbands and a belt-like waistband, in which format, it was also sometimes called a roundabout. [4] [5] [6]
For Sunday best and other special occasions Amish men wear a jacket called a wamus, distinct from the 'mutze' traditionally worn for preaching. [7] [8]
Roundabout — A name for a certain kind of jacket. (See Wamus.)