The history of this interesting element of clothing goes back to such antiquity that now no one will tell when the pompom appeared.

Already in the early Middle Ages the Scandinavians wore simple knitted or felt hats (bonnets) without fields of a spherical, spherical shape with a tassel or pompom on the crown. Even a bronze figurine of the Scandinavian deity of fertility Freyr with a hat with a pompom was found. These hats have successfully survived to our days with virtually no change and are perhaps the most popular hats in cold weather.

The story of the appearance of a visor with a pompom

Over the centuries, the shape of these bonnet hats has undergone a lot of changes, and many new hats have appeared - from a pointed nightcap with a tassel to a square beret of priests (Canterbury hat). In the 16th century, among the Scots, a knitted beret, usually called the “blue bonnet”, by its color, or the “kilmarnock” (Kilmarnock bonnet) - at the place of manufacture was spread. Its popularity was such that by the beginning of the 18th century, the “blue bonnet-kilmarnock” had become a characteristic recognizable detail of the traditional costume of the Scottish highlander.

In 1725, after the First Jacobite Uprising (1715), a Highland (Mountain) regiment, known as the Dark Guard, was formed from the Scottish clans loyal to the British crown. The traditional Scottish “blue bonnet” with a red pompom (toorie), symbolizing fidelity to the British crown, and a red and white checkered tulle with silk ribbons was adopted as a uniform headdress for highlander.

At the end of the 18th century, this uniform was called “tem-o’scherter” (ToS - the modern official abbreviation), thanks to the poem of the same name by Robert Burns. In 1799, a modified “tem-o’sherter” was adopted - the “Glengarry bonnet” - resembling a cap, also with a red pompom (in some units it was a different color - for example, the Highlander Gordon had a dark green pompom) , checkered tulle and silk ribbons. The Glengarry was a statutory uniform headdress until the outbreak of World War I, when it was replaced by a khaki-colored tem-o’sherten, which remains to this day a form of clothing for Scottish units. The civilian version of tem-o’sherter is called the Balmoral bonnet, after the Scottish residence of the British monarchs.

In 1792, Europe plunged for twenty-two years into the so-called Coalition wars. One of the features of these wars was the adoption of a shako in the fighting armies as a combat uniform uniform (1797 - Portugal; 1799 - Britain; 1801 - France; 1805 - Russia ...). Tall, tough, with etiquette-kutas-sultans, the shak was extremely uncomfortable, especially given the debilitating nature of those wars. As a reaction to the introduction of the shako, among the soldiers of all the warring parties, the popularity of various non-combatant (and simply non-regular) bonnets sharply increased: forages, cap, berets.

In particular, the British soldiers adopted the Scottish “Tam O'Shenter”, which was well known to them, while the color of the circle corresponded to either the color of the uniform or the color of the shaver, the color of the tulle corresponded, as a rule, to the instrumental color of the regiment, and the color of the pompom corresponded to the color of the Sultan - for example, the Sharpe arrows (95 rifle brigade), known to many in films and books, wore green pompons.

These hats have become so popular that the British army has been in them for a century. Over time, their tulle will decrease - the hats will look more like round boxes, for which they will be called “pillbox”. At present, as a formal uniform headdress, “pillboxes” with pompons have remained with the Gurkhas (British troops recruited from Nepalese) and the Cadets of the Royal Military College of Canada.

Capless in France

Well, what about the French sailors? The history of the French visor began in 1825, when a bonnet de travail was adopted for the lower ranks as a working headdress ... with a visor and without any pompom, with alternating red and blue transverse stripes on the band and a red edging on the top. Despite the fact that this was not reflected in the documents, judging by the drawings of that time, by the end of the 1920s the visor from this cap had disappeared, and the alternating stripes on the ring had the most diverse appearance (for example, in a checkerboard pattern).

This may be due to the fact that the cap was working, its appearance was not strictly regulated anywhere, and it was made either independently by sailors or sewn to order. In 1832, the appearance of the “bonnet de travail” was somewhat regulated - the decree of March 1 states that the sailor should have two working bonnets, one of which should be blue with a red border, without any decorations, but at the same time a woolen strand on the crown in the form of a small brush is allowed!

From this we can conclude that such a strand at that time was already to some extent common on makeshift sailor caps. In 1836, the visor on the caps was finally canceled and a centralized supply of such caps began. There is every reason to believe that by 1840 a woolen strand on the crown of sailor hats was already ubiquitous.

Finally, by a decree of March 27, 1858, the everyday bonnet for sailors and quartermasters was finally approved and clearly described: “A woolen knitted hat with a beret in the shape of a beret. There are two red stripes with a thickness of 15-17 mm; the distance between the strips is 7 mm; the distance from the lower strip to the lower edge of the band is 22 mm. On the top of the head is a strand of a mixture of blue and red wool threads - 112 blue threads and 76 red threads 65 mm long. Cap height - 108-135mm; the diameter of the body - 243-285mm; size - 516-605mm; weight - 140-190 g .... "

In 1870, the visor (bonnet de marin) underwent some changes: a lace extending outward in the back began to be inserted into the band to fit the size of the visor under the head. In addition, the red stripes became thinner - 10 mm each, and the distance between them increased to 40 mm. In 1871, the strand on the crown became completely red and magnificent. By a circular dated March 25, 1872, a black silk ribbon with the name of the ship and anchors at the ends was placed on the peak of the cap.

In 1876, the black leather chin strap was replaced with a white lace that was worn over the top of the body. In 1878, an emblem embroidered on the top appeared in the form of a golden anchor. In 1891, the length of the ribbons was shortened and the free ends disappeared. Since 1901, they began to make a cap not from knitwear (knitted material), but from cloth; in 1902 a white linen cover was put on, worn in hot weather. Around this time, the unofficial name "bachi" ("linen") was assigned to the peakless cap. By World War I, the French visor had acquired its modern look. In addition to the Navy, a similar peakless cap, only with a blue pompom, is worn by French sea scouts.

Why is the pompom on the peak?

There is a beautiful legend about the appearance of the pompom on the visor. On August 9, 1858, at the opening of the Imperial Bridge in Brest, during a visit to the ships by the French Empress Eugenia, one of the sailors hit his head. Eugene gave him her silk scarf, which was stained with blood. In memory of this, supposedly, French sailors began to wear red pompons.

It should be noted that not only the French sailors, not only the sailors and not only the military have a pompom on their uniform headdress. At present, sailors and foremen of the Irish Naval Service wear visors with blue pompons. In addition, until 1965, Norwegian sailors also wore visors with small dark blue pompons.

And finally, we can add that the pompom is part of the so-calledliturgical biretta - a quadrangular cap - for catholic priests of certain ranks.