First Memories

Just call me Connie Willis as I time travel back to the 1950s and 60s to describe for fellow sufferers and my children what it was like growing up in Toronto as a Catholic. 

My first memory is getting ready to go to Sunday mass.  This was the only time my mother ever wore perfume and I can still recall the scent of Chanel's Cuir de Russie on my mother's coat and gloves.  And the wearing of hats!   With five girls to prepare for attending church, my parents had to ensure a wide assortment of suitable head coverings.  They ranged from winter knitted hats (I had one with multi-coloured fake braids on it that I loved), to summer straw ones that picked at my scalp, to a variety of veils, little white or black doilies that perched on my head secured with bobby pins, to hat headbands that included one with a dramatic sweep of fake pheasant feathers which curled provocatively around my face (awesome) and another with black velvet and pearls.  

I remember sneaking into church (hatless) on my way home from school to make a 'visit' during Lent as one could earn extra indulgences (more on that later) for a church visit especially if you used holy water to bless yourself, when I was accosted by an older woman who scolded me and slapped a kleenex on my head hissing 'you must cover your head'.  I was so mortified and scared that I immediately ran out of the church (dunking my hand in the holy water on the way so I could cross myself until all the holy water evaporated - additional indulgences earned which I now needed to make up for the Not Wearing a Hat in Church sin).  The Wearing of Hats in Church mysteriously ended in the late 60s which I assumed was a result of Vatican II and Pope John's desire for 'fresh air' to be let in.  Overnight women no longer wore hats in church or pretty much anywhere.   Strangely, no one spoke about it - we all just stopped wearing hats - I know I was afraid to question it fearing I would be responsible for exposing this underground movement and bringing down the wrath of Rome along with the hat requirement being reinstituted.