Couleur

File:Couleur Bajuvaria Wien.JPG

Ribbon, cap and of an Austrian

File:Zionist Couleur Bands.jpg

Couleur bands of the Zionist Nehardea from Basel, in the Jewish Museum of Switzerland's collection.

Couleur (from French, meaning 'colour' in English) is the expression used in Central European for the various headgear and distinctive ribbons worn by members of these student societies.

There are three classes of such student societies:

• Societies with no colours (so called , 'black')
• Societies with colours but wearing no ribbon, no cap etc. They wear their colours e.g. in their coat of arms or as .
• Societies with colours and wearing a ribbon, a cap etc.

Ribbon

File:Couleur Band.jpg

Example of a pair of ribbons from the same society, upper, lower.

File:Bandknopf-GW.png

Button of metal with colours.

The ribbon (so called ) is worn over the right shoulder to the left hip. Both ends are held together by a button, often fashioned from metal or porcelain. These buttons are often engraved or enameled with a and at times even specific coat of arms associated with the student society in question. A lot of societies distinguish two types of ribbons. One is used by the new members (so called or , after the German 'fox', or in Flanders, a word borrowed from the military, where it meant 'new recruit'), the other one is used by the elder members (so called or, if with degree, ; in Flanders elders members are ). The ribbons of the elder members show the original or full colours of the society, where the ribbons of the new members often show a variation of them, such as displaying only two of the three main colours. In the Flemish tradition new members wear the full colours, but on the left shoulder, instead of the right.

Headgear

Cap

File:Muetzen Kollection.jpg

Collection of caps, from left to right: , ,

Mostly a cap (so called ) consists of:

• a black bill,
• a crown coloured by one of the colours of the ribbon,
• a band with the colours of the ribbon.

There are various forms of caps, e.g.:

A special and seldom seen form of headgear is the (English 'hotspur'). It has a black bill, a black band and the top of the crown points to the front. The crown is also coloured by one of the colours of the ribbon. Sometimes a is embroidered on the top. Traditionally, the is only worn in the summer semester of the academic year.

File:Corps Hubertia Freiburg Stürmer Hat.jpg The traditional , one of the two contemporary hat Couleur of Corps Hubertia Freiburg

File:Wilhelm II. (Deutsches Reich) im Couleur des Corps Borussia Bonn (farbig).jpg German Emperor Wilhelm II. wearing the Couleur of Corps Borussia Bonn with a white and a black-white-black ribbon

File:Toennchen Kollection.jpg Collection of with on the top of the crown

A (diminutive of , English 'barrel') is a headgear with: a flat crown, the top coloured by one of the colours of the ribbon and mostly embroidered with the , straight upright sides with the colours of the ribbon, are worn instead of caps by the elder members on official occasions.

File:Prunktönnchen - Corps Arminia München.jpg with vine leaves

File:Strassencerevis Rhen Sil.jpg with oak leaves

A looks like a but is embroidered with a and oak leaves or vine leaves.

See also

• List of student boilersuit colours

Further reading

• R.G.S. Weber: The German Corps in the Third Reich Macmillan London
• Peter Krause: O alte Burschenherrlichkeit - Die Studenten und ihr Brauchtum, Graz, Wien, Köln 1979 (German), Template:ISBN
• Peter Krause: O alte Burschenherrlichkeit - Die Studenten und ihr Brauchtum, 5. verb. Auflage, Graz, Wien, Köln 1997 (German), Template:ISBN
• Paulgerhard Gladen: Gaudeamus igitur - Die studentischen Verbindungen einst und jetzt, Köln 2001 (German),Template:ISBN
• Marc Zirlewagen (Hg.): Wir siegen oder fallen - Deutsche Studenten im Ersten Weltkrieg, Köln 2008 (German), Template:ISBN
• Edgar Hunger / Curt Meyer: Studentisches Brauchtum, Bonn, Stuttgart 1958 (German)