 Historically, the forerunner to the tuque we know today was, in fact, the toque. This small, round, close-fitting hat was popular as early as the 12th and 13th centuries, when women wore embroidered toques made of velvet, satin, or taffeta. Late in the 16th century, brimless, black velvet toques became fashionable with men and women. Throughout the 19th century, women wore toques, often small, trimmed with fur, lace, bows, flowers, or leaves.
The tuque, as its known today throughout Canada, is related to the Phrygian cap, a soft, red, conical hat worn by the inhabitants of Phrygia, a region in what is now modern-day Turkey. This early precursor to the tuque was depicted in sculpture and paintings as a symbol of freedom and the pursuit of liberty. As such, during the 1837 Patriotes Rebellion, a red tuque became a symbol of French-Canadian pride. This symbolism of the tuque was revived again by the Front de Libération du Québec in the 1960s.
Today, tuques maintain both a functional and fashionable purpose. Throughout Canada and, indeed the rest of the world, the tuque is the common name for any of several styles of knit winter hats, designed for keeping the head warm in cold climates. And, with the variety of styles, colors and construction, today’s tuques have once again become a symbol, though now one imagines this symbolism is more about fashion than the liberty and freedom these caps once symbolized. |
