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History |
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The fez was
named for the city of Fez, the metropolis of Morocco, which was the seat of
numerous schools, libraries and a famous university. Fez formerly had a monopoly
on the manufacture of that peculiar form of headdress because it controlled the
juice of the berry used to color the fezzes. Since the discovery of synthetic
aniline colors, however, they were manufactured in France, Germany and Austria.
At the turn of the century Austria was the chief center of the fez industry. The
countries where the fezzes were extensively used did not have a single fez
manufacturing plant
The shape of the cap is a
truncated cone familiar to all the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. It was made of
red felt, having a black tassel inserted in the middle of the top and hanging
down. Although the shape and the tassel of the fez known to the nobles are such
as are generally used throughout turkey, yet in Tunisia, Tripoli and Morocco,
the fezzes are twice or three times as long as the popular type, and have blue
silk tassels much longer and heavier than those seen in America and Turkey.
In the early
part of the nineteenth century the fez was made a part of the Turkish official
dress by Mahmoul II, Sultan of Turkey. It was considered the special badge of a
Turkish subject and he, even if not a Moslem, was obliged to wear it. Women as
well as men wore fezzes but theirs were invariably small and without tassels.
The
conventional uniform for Nobles of the Mystic Shrine was full evening dress with
a red fez, usually bearing the name of the temple, in addition to the crescent
and the sphinx head embroidered in gold.