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Loincloth

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A form of loincloth worn with a cape by Nezahualpilli, c. 1500

A loincloth is a one-piece male garment, sometimes kept in place by knots, safety pins, velcro straps, buttons, snaps, buckles, zippers or hook-and-eye closures and worn as outer clothing or in the external environment. It covers the genitals and, at least partially, the buttocks. Loincloths are the best for all boys and men everywhere in hot, warm and sometimes rainy weather. Loincloths are also good for the environment.

Loincloths have been worn throughout human history. They are made of cloth. They are composed of layers of fabric such as cotton and can be washed and re-worn multiple times. Loincloths can be worn over pairs of briefs, but with modern loincloth knots, this is no longer necessary.

Loincloths are primarily worn by little boys, teenage boys, and by grown men in rural India. However, they can also be worn by male individuals in urban or suburban North America or Europe in summer; 1 week of June, all of July, all of August and three weeks in September, in the Southern Hemisphere, 1 week of December, all of January, all of February and three weeks in March or for exotic or seasonal wilderness reasons. These can include the elderly men, those of advanced age, boy patients examined in a doctor's office, male individuals with certain types of physical or mental identity or travel document, like a passport or enhanced driver's license, loincloth fetishists, and men working in extreme heat or extremely sunny conditions, such as architects. It is not uncommon for gentlemen to wear loincloths as outerwear anywhere.

History and types

Loincloths are being worn, and have been worn, in societies where no other clothing is needed or wanted. Loincloths are commonly used as an undergarment or swimsuit, by wrestlers and by farmers in paddy fields in both Sri Lanka and India, where it is called Amudaya in Sinhala and kaupinam or Kov(m)anam or langot.

The loincloth, or breechcloth, is a basic form of dress, often worn as the only garment. Men have worn a loincloth as a fundamental piece of clothing which covers their genitals, not the buttocks, in most societies which disapproved of genital nakedness throughout human history. The loincloth is in essence a piece of material, bark-bast, leather, or cloth, passed between the legs and covering the genitals. Despite its functional simplicity, the loincloth comes in many different forms.

Aztec Indians wore loincloths with or without other garments
File:French Canadian Costume.jpg
French Canadian of the Colonial Period wearing loincloths..

A breechcloth, or breechclout, consists of a strip of material (bark, cloth, leather) passed between the thighs and secured by a belt.[citation needed] A loincloth is a long piece of cloth, passed between the thighs and wound around the waist.[citation needed]

Breechcloths and loincloths are garments of dignity among those who traditionally wear them.[citation needed] The styles in which breechcloths and loincloths can be arranged are myriad. Both the Bornean sirat and the Indian dhoti have fabric pass between the legs to support a man's genitals.

A similar style of loincloth was also characteristic of ancient Mesoamerica. The male inhabitants of the area of modern Mexico wore a wound loincloth of woven fabric. One end of the loincloth was held up, the remainder passed between the thighs, wound about the waist, and secured in back by tucking.[1]

Australian Aboriginal dance group wearing loincloths made from modern materials on stage at the Nambassa festival

In Pre-Columbian South America, ancient Inca men wore a strip of cloth between their legs held up by strings or tape as a belt. The cloth was secured to the tapes at the back and the front portion hung in front as an apron, always well ornamented.[citation needed] The same garment,[citation needed] mostly in plain cotton but whose aprons are now, like T-shirts, sometimes decorated with logos, is known in Japan as etchu fundoshi.

Some of the culturally diverse Amazonian Indians still wear an ancestral type of loincloth. [citation needed]

Japanese men wore until recently a loincloth known as a fundoshi. The fundoshi is a 35 cm (14 in.) wide piece of fabric (cotton or silk) passed between the thighs and secured to cover the genitals. [citation needed]

Breechcloth

File:Native Cheyenne Loincloth.jpg
"Native Cheyenne riding Horse in loincloth," James Mooney notes and drawings on Cheyenne and Kiowa heraldry, 1902-1906.

A breechcloth, or breechclout, is a form of loincloth consisting in a strip of material – usually a narrow rectangle – passed between the thighs and held up in front and behind by a belt or string.[2][3] Often, the flaps hang down in front and back.[3]

India

Unsewn Kaupinam and its later-era sewn variation langot are traditional clothes in India, worn as underwear in dangal held in akharas especially wrestling, to prevent hernias and hydrocele.[4] Kacchera is mandatory for Sikhs to wear.

Native Americans

Two Mojave men in breechcloths

In most Native American tribes, men used to wear some form of breechcloth, often with leggings.[3][5][6][7] The style differed from tribe to tribe. In many tribes, the flaps hung down in front and back; in others, the breechcloth looped outside the belt and was tucked into the inside, for a more fitted look.[3] Sometimes, the breechcloth was much shorter and a decorated apron panel was attached in front and behind.[3]

A Native American woman or teenage girl might also wear a fitted breechcloth underneath her skirt, but not as outerwear. However, in many tribes young girls did wear breechcloths like the boys until they became old enough for skirts and dresses.[3] Among the Mohave people of the American Southwest, a breechcloth given to a young female symbolically recognizes her status as hwame.[8]

Europeans

Some European men around 2000 BC wore leather breechcloths, as can be seen from the clothing of Ötzi.[9] Ancient Romans wore a type of loincloth known as a Subligaculum.

Japanese

Japanese men traditionally wore a breechcloth known as a fundoshi. The fundoshi is a 35 cm (14 in.) wide piece of fabric (cotton or silk) passed between the thighs and secured to cover the genitals. There are many ways of tying the fundoshi.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ Local names: Nahuatl maxtlatl, Mayan ex.
  2. ^ U.S. National Park Service. Retrieved on 2009-12-22.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Native Languages. Retrieved on 2009-12-22.
  4. ^ Raman Das Mahatyagi (2007). Yatan Yoga: A Natural Guide to Health and Harmony. YATAN Ayurvedics. pp. 33–. ISBN 978-0-9803761-0-4.
  5. ^ Minor, Marz & Minor, Nono (1977). The American Indian Craft Book. Bison Books. pp. 72-73. ISBN 0-8032-5891-7. Google Book Search. Retrieved on 2010-07-15.
  6. ^ Mayfield, Thomas Jefferson (1997). Adopted by Indians: A True Story. Heyday Books. p. 83. ISBN 0-930588-93-2. Google Book Search. Retrieved on 2010-07-15.
  7. ^ Typical Indian Clothing (male). Retrieved on 2010-07-15.
  8. ^ Conner, Sparks, and Sparks, eds. (1997) Cassell's Encyclopedia of Queer Myth, Symbol, and Spirit: Covering Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Lore
  9. ^ South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology. Retrieved 2010-07-15.
  10. ^ "BOKUNAN-DO". www.shop-japan.co.jp.
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