Arakhchin

An arakhchi (Armenian: արախչի, romanized: arakhchi, Azerbaijani: araxçın) is a traditional Armenian^[1][2][3][4] and Azerbaijani^[5] flat top skull cap headdress, worn by both men and women in the past.

A traditional Armenian male arakhchi headdress, 21st century

Arakhchis could be sewn of various textiles, such as tirma wool and silk. However, only one single-colour textile per arakhchi was used. The textile was made into a round shape fitting the head and then decorated with embroidery, lace, beads and even pieces of gold. Men's arakhchis were relatively plain, especially those used for religious purposes.^[6]

In Western Armenia, men, especially freedom fighters, wore a red arakhchi draped with a bandana with tinsel as their native headgear to identify themselves.^[2] The Armenian arakhchi was a truncated skull cap, knitted from wool or embroidered with multicolored woolen thread and a predominance of red. The way this traditional headdress was worn was a marker of its owner's marital condition, just as in Eastern Armenia, the right to wear an arakhchi belonged to a married man.^[3] Even though the arakhchi was traditionally a man's hat, Armenian women wore this headress as well; especially in Muş where Armenian singer Armenouhi Kevonian was known for her colorful arakhchi at her concerts.^[7]

Hrayr Dzhoghk, an Armenian fedayi wearing an arakhchi

An arakhchi could be worn alone or under other headdresses, such as papakhi, a turban or a kalaghai. Women's arakhchis worn as early as the sixteenth century often lacked a special sack intended for braids. By the eighteenth century, it was already one of the most widespread headgears.^[8] Women used hairpins to secure their veils on the arakhchin.^[9]

Arakhchins generally went out of use in the early twentieth century, with the mass adoption of European-style dress in Armenia and in what is now considered the Republic of Azerbaijan.

See also

• List of hat styles