Developing a Habit

By this time (a few years into my Druid monastic practice) I was wearing habit-like garments; a long shift/dress, a shorter tunic over that, and a cowl and hood over that. I also had a rope-type belt. These were all black as that seemed the most practical colour (it doesn’t show the dirt as lighter colours do and it is easier to match it for patching and mending). Black felt like a sacred colour relating to the dark and fruitful Earth and to the darkness from which all creation came. There was also the mention of the Druid women on Angelsey described as wearing black during the Roman attack recorded by the Roman writer Tacitus. With all these considerations in mind black seemed the most appropriate colour for a female Druid monastic to be wearing. In the winter the tunic, cowl and hood were wool/acrylic, and in the summer I used a cotton/linen alternative. The wool/acrylic garments I knitted myself; the cotton/linen versions I actually bought from a company making historical garments after some years of using extra-large T-shirts for the summer tunics. The belt I made from a cotton knitting yarn using the French-knitting technique. For footwear I had, and still use, flat, black lace-up shoes or boots. I will buy leather ones as long as they are from second-hand or charity shops but if I buy any new, which is actually very rare, I avoid buying leather because it is an animal product and its production involves great cruelty. I have soft-soled sandals which I wear when moving around for the Midnight Observances as I live in a flat on the second floor of a building and don’t want to be disturbing my neighbours at night. These I call my ‘night shoes’ and I change into them just before the beginning of the Late-Evening Observance, and back into my ‘day shoes’ after breakfast.

With the habit I was looking at practicality, protection, and protest (the latter against what has come to be called ‘fast fashion’). I wore this habit all the time until I joined the OSN and began wearing the OSN habit (I will talk about that habit in a later post). I also had a long black tabard-like garment which could be put on and taken off fairly quickly for the Midnight and Early-Morning Observances. I had a quite heavy one for use in the winter and a lighter one for use during the summer. These I still use nowadays as they work so well from a practical point of view and keep me warm enough in the middle of the night. I tend to call them my ‘night habit’.

Wearing a habit certainly achieves the aim of simplifying one’s life in the area of clothing. The various parts of the habit could be mended and patched until unwearable, at which point they could be used for patching other parts of the habit. New garments may well be needed from time to time but this happens far less often than would otherwise be the case. I have tended to use fabric waste to stuff cushions, particularly prayer/meditation cushions, as the fabric waste tightly packed is quite firm.