2001:558:6033:FE:B481:3C37:4E20:333F: /* In popular culture */

2025-06-05T14:08:07Z

In popular culture

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{{Short description|Christian pointed hat of conical form}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{More citations needed|date=April 2017}}
{{Page numbers needed|date=June 2018}}
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[[File:Lagrimas - Fusionadas.jpg|thumb|[[Holy Week in Malaga|Procession of the Reales Cofradías Fusionadas in Malaga]]]]
[[File:Pollinica - Mayordomo.jpg|thumb|[[Holy Week in Malaga|Brotherhood with green capirotes in Malaga]]]]
[[File:SevillaNazarenoHSanRoque02.JPG|thumb|Brotherhood of Saint Rochus with velvet capirotes]]
[[File:Venerable Hermandad del Santísimo Cristo de la Lanzada y María Santísima de la Caridad, Granda, Semana Santa 2009 (6).JPG|thumb|Brotherhood with silk capirotes]]
A '''capirote'''<ref>Diccionario de la lengua castellana</ref> is a [[Christianity|Christian]] [[pointed hat]] of conical form that is used in [[Italy]], [[Spain]] and [[Hispanic]] countries by members of a [[confraternity of penitents]], particularly those of the [[Catholic Church]]. It is part of the uniform of such brotherhoods including the ''Nazarenos'' and ''Fariseos'' during [[Lent|Lenten]] observances and reenactments during [[Holy Week in Spain]] and its [[:Hispanic America|former colonies]], though similar [[Hood (headgear)|hoods]] are common in other [[Christian countries]] such as [[Italy]]. Capirote are worn by penitents so that attention is not drawn towards themselves as they [[Repentance in Christianity|repent]], but instead to God.

==History==
Historically, the [[flagellant]]s are the origin of the current traditions, as they flogged themselves with a [[Discipline (instrument of penance)|discipline]] to do penance. [[Pope Clement VI]] ordered that flagellants could perform penance only under control of the church; he decreed ''Inter sollicitudines'' ("inner concerns" for suppression).<ref>A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years Door Diarmaid MacCulloch</ref> This is considered one of the reasons why flagellants often hid their faces.

The use of the capirote or coroza was prescribed in Spain by the holy office of [[Inquisition]]. Men and women who were arrested had to wear a paper capirote in public as sign of [[public humiliation]]. The capirote was worn during the session of an [[Auto-da-fé]]. The colour was different, conforming to the judgement of the office. People who were condemned to be executed wore a red coroza. Other punishments used different colours.

When the Inquisition was abolished, the symbol of punishment and penitence was kept in the Catholic brotherhood, however, the capirotes used today are different; they are covered in fine fabric, as prescribed by the brotherhood. To this day, they are still worn during the celebration of the Holy Week/Easter most notably in Andalusia, by [[wikt:penitentes|penitentes]] (who perform public penance for their sins) who walk through streets with the capirote.

The usage of the capirote during the Holy Week was once common throughout Spain's colonies, but this custom has since died out in most of them by the late 19th century. Notable exceptions to this are some parts of Mexico, Guatemala, and the Philippines.

In the [[Philippines]], a former Spanish colony, male Catholic penitents of the Tais-Dupol [[Confraternity of penitents|confraternity]] wear capirotes during [[Holy Week]] in [[Palo, Leyte]]. The group's name comes from [[Waray language|Waray]] {{lang|war|tais}}, meaning "pointed", and {{lang|war|dupol}}, meaning "blunt", referring to the shape of the hood. The tradition has been followed since the late 1800s when the group was organized by the [[Franciscan]] friar Pantaleon de la Fuente. The wearing of the hood is based on [[Matthew 6:16]]-[[Matthew 6:18|18]] which advocates for anonymity during [[fasting]].<ref name="gma">{{cite news |title='Tais-Dupol' in Palo, Leyte stirs netizens |url=https://www.gmanetwork.com/regionaltv/news/101174/taisdupol-in-palo-leyte-stirs-netizens/story/ |access-date=7 April 2024 |work=GMA Regional TV News |date=30 March 2024}}</ref>

The capirote is today the symbol of the Catholic penitent: only members of a confraternity of penance are allowed to wear them during solemn processions. Children can receive the capirote after their first holy communion, when they enter the brotherhood. Similar hoods are common in other [[Christian countries]] such as Italy.

== Design ==
Historically the design is called the capirote, but the brotherhoods cover it with fabric together with their face, and the medal of the brotherhood that is worn underneath. The cloth has two holes for the penitent to see through. The insignia or crest of the brotherhood is usually embroidered on the capirote in fine gold.

The capirote is worn during the whole penance.

== Use outside of the Catholic Church ==
[[File:Ku Klux Klan costumes in North Carolina in 1870.jpg|thumb|Early Klan members in capirote-like uniforms]]
According to historian Michael K. Jerryson, the capirote was [[Cultural appropriation|appropriated]] by the early 20th-century American [[Ku Klux Klan]], a [[White Supremacist|white supremacist]] and [[Anti-Catholicism|anti-Catholic]] group.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=pfjtDwAAQBAJ&dq=Capirote+kkk&pg=PA217 Michael K. Jerryson, Religious Violence Today: Faith and Conflict in the Modern World, 2020, 217]</ref> Alison Kinney of ''[[The New Republic|New Republic]]'' traces the modern uniform to the popularity of the film ''[[The Birth of a Nation]]'', whose costume inspiration was not credited.<ref>{{Cite magazine| title = How the Klan Got Its Hood| last = Kinney | first = Alison| magazine = The New Republic| date = 8 January 2016| access-date = 29 November 2022| url = https://newrepublic.com/article/127242/klan-got-hood}}</ref>

== In popular culture ==
* The Penitent One, the protagonist of the video games ''[[Blasphemous (video game)|Blasphemous]]'' and ''[[Blasphemous 2]]'', wears a metal helmet that combines a capirote with a [[Nijmegen Helmet|face mask]].
* In the 1979 ''[[Lupin III]]'' film ''[[The Castle of Cagliostro]]'', during the wedding of the Count and Clarisse, as they approach the altar, they are accompanied by a procession of his armored assassins, all wearing black capirotes and robes over their usual armor.
* In the tabletop skirmish game ''[[Trench Crusade]]'', many of the Trench Pilgrims wear an iron capirote as military equipment, said to render them utterly fearless.
* The Neo Atlantean soldiers from the 1990s anime ''[[Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water]]'' wear capirote like hoods with a face mask, the color and design of the face masks differ to signify different ranks and professions within the organization.

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Guardia Sanframondi (31500390952).jpg|A [[confraternity of penitents]] in Italy mortifying the flesh with [[Discipline (instrument of penance)|disciplines]] in a seven-hour procession; hoods similar to the capirote are worn by penitents in order to not draw attention to themselves, but to God (2010)
File:Francisco de Goya - Escena de Inquisición - Google Art Project.jpg|[[The Inquisition Tribunal]]
File:Francisco de Goya y Lucientes 025.jpg|''A Procession of Flagellants'', [[Francisco Goya|Goya]], 1812–1819
File:Caprichos Nr 23, Dieser Staub.jpg|''Prisoner wearing capirote and Sanbenito'', [[Francisco Goya|Goya]]
File:Execution of Mariana de Carabajal.jpg|Execution of [[Francisca Nuñez de Carabajal]], Mexico City, 1601

</gallery>

==See also==
{{Portal|Christianity|Spain}}
* {{section link|Dunce|Dunce cap}}
* [[List of hat styles]]
* [[List of headgear]]
* [[Sanbenito]]

==References==
{{Commons}}
{{Reflist}}

{{Hats}}

[[Category:14th-century Catholicism]]
[[Category:Holy Week in Spain]]
[[Category:Catholic religious clothing]]
[[Category:Spanish clothing]]
[[Category:Spanish Inquisition]]
[[Category:Pointed hats]]

Capirote - Revision history

2001:558:6033:FE:B481:3C37:4E20:333F: /* In popular culture */