Lock of hair

For other uses, see lock.

A lock of hair is a piece or pieces of hair that has been cut from, or remains singly on, a human head, most commonly bunched or tied together in some way.

Locks of hair carry symbolic value and have been utilized throughout history in various religious, superstitions, and sentimental roles.

• A primitive belief maintains that owning a lock of hair from another’s head gives one power over that individual, in the same manner that owning a piece of clothing or image of an individual grants the owner such powers.
• During antiquity, Roman girls who were about to be married offered locks of hair to Jupiter in his forest god aspect, Virbius (Virbio).
• An ancient and worldwide (eg. China, Egypt, Thailand, Albania, Ukraine, India, Israel, etc) pre-adolescent custom was to shave children's heads but leave a lock of hair (sometimes several locks) remaining on their heads. Upon reaching adulthood the lock of hair was usually cut off (see rites of passage).
• The scalplock was a lock of hair kept throughout a man's life. Like the childhood locks mentioned above, the scalplock was also a worldwide phenomenon, particularly noted amongst eastern woodland Indians (see Iroquois, Huron, Mahican, Mohawk) in north America (see also scalping and mohawk hairstyle).

Sviatoslav I of Kiev was reported to have worn a scalp lock by Leo the Deacon, a Byzantine historian . Later Ukrainian Cossacks (Zaporozhians) sported scalplocks called oseledets or khokhol. In India this custom remains active but usually only amongst orthodox Hindus. See sikha.

In Mark Twain's travel book 'The Innocents Abroad', he describes Moroccan men sporting scalp locks.

• A common superstition holds that a lock of hair from a baby's first haircut should be kept for good luck. An old Irish superstition holds that it is unlucky to accept a lock of hair (or a four-footed beast) from a lover.
• A lock of Beethoven’s hair, cut from his head in 1827, was auctioned in 1994 through Sotheby's of London.[1] Research on the hair determined that the composer's life-long illness was caused by lead poisoning.

Sources

• The Golden Bough by James Frazer - Penguin Books, ISBN 978-0-14-018931-5
• The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain - Signet Classic, ISBN 1-85532-848-8
• Armies of Medieval Russia 750-1250 by David Nicolle - Osprey Publishing, ISBN 0-451-52502-7
• Daily Life in Ancient India From 200 BC to 700 AD by Jeannine Auboyer - Phoenix Press, ISBN 1-84212-591-5
• The Cossacks by John Ure - The Overlook Press, ISBN 1-58567-138-x
• Template:En icon Ancient Egyptian Hairstyles
• Template:En icon Ukrainian Cossack Display Group
• Template:En icon Common Superstitions
• Template:En icon Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland

see also

• Dreadlocks, commonly called locks or dreads.