National headgear of Panama. In which country did they create it?

In this article we will talk about one very famous and popular summer headdress. Who does not know what hat is Panama? Of course, it is known to everyone. In its primary form, Panama is woven from graceful straws and is bounded along the lower edge by elastic straw fields.

It would seem, what is so unusual about it that turned her into the subject of this article?

The Lexical Paradox

This question is simple. Try to ask at least your friends: "In what country is the national headdress called Panama?" How do you think the majority of respondents will answer? They will say without hesitation: "In Panama!"

And, of course, making a bet on the similarity of the name of the hat and the Central American country will be mistaken. After all, human inconsistency in inventing names is well known. In particular, this hat, created in one country, is named after another.

Ecuador - the real home of Panama

To be more precise, the birthplace of the "Ecuadorian hat" is the city of Cuenca, the cultural capital of Ecuador. Representatives of creative professions prefer to settle here. And it is in the district of this city that the endemic Ecuadorian palm tree grows massively - carludovica palmata - a source of raw materials for the manufacture of panam. Grateful residents of this country call it "national treasure".

In the XVII century, residents of Cuenca for the first time decided to use the dried leaves of the palm (tokil) cut into straws for weaving the lungs, strong and "breathing" headgear. Local entrepreneurs, realizing the benefits, in the XIX century organized the mass production of these wonderful hats.

By the beginning of the XVIII century, almost every inhabitant of Ecuador was wearing a new and very convenient national hat - Panama.

In what country does not exist? Popular folk craft developed into a thriving segment of light industry, and its products, filling the domestic market, began to be exported.

According to tradition, so far only "Ecuadorian hats" are woven by women. This is very laborious work. For the manufacture of a particularly elegant road Panama master craftsman sometimes takes several months.

Fashion paradoxes

At the time of the emergence in the world of rampant fashion for Panama (and this was in the first decades of the 20th century), between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, a famous canal was built across the territory of Panama, a small state on the isthmus between the continents of South America and North America.

By that time, Ecuador had already established thousands of production to the Panamanians and was looking for new markets for their sale. This profitable business in the beginning of the last century came to a new level. At that time, Panama was the ear of the whole world (in connection with the construction). And the Ecuadorian hats poured exactly there, so that on the merchant ships the bales with sombrero de Panamá (as it was called at that time) were delivered to different countries.

In addition, this product was a sales hit: people who built the Panama Canal, 81.6 km in length and 150 meters in width, however, like the people who celebrated its opening, in their majority wore panama on their heads. Who knows, maybe this also contributed to the transfer of the name of the majestic structure to a super-popular headdress.

The surprising thing is fashion. After all, if you follow the logic of things, then (sorry for the tautology) is not Panama's national headgear - Panama. (In what country it is a national treasure, we already mentioned.) But in order not to be unfounded, we will try to prove that it is certainly not in Panama.

Panama is not the birthplace of Panama

It is very simple to prove that the population of this small state, even theoretically, could not create this remarkable national hat - Panama.

In which country was Panama just one province? Answer: in Colombia. The reason for the spontaneous separation of a part of the country into a sovereign state was purely external. The US capitalists, who finance the construction of the canal, calculated that it would be cheaper for them under such conditions. The political pressure was exerted on Colombia, and ... Panama appeared.

Therefore, in the correct answer to the question "Which country's national hat is a panama?" There should not be a name for the country - Panama.

Let us summarize the evidence of the obvious: at the beginning of the twentieth century the word "national" was even logically inapplicable to Panama, a state created bureaucratically-compulsively, having a subsidiary of the Colombian origin and history

About production Panama

They were created in the last century, several million each year. Gradually more blurred tribal signs began to characterize the national headgear - Panama. In what country it was produced only!

Soon, taking as a basis Ecuadorian style headgear, elastic straw was replaced with a dense cloth. For dozens of years of production, the fashion designers showed their imagination to the panam. Thanks to them, the Panamas were no longer a certain type, but an impressive assortment of summer hats. Whether they are made for holiday rest from a dense fabric with narrow fields or for military service - with fields wider.

However, true connoisseurs among this variety will prefer authentic panama, woven from palm leaves, which are produced exclusively in Ecuador. Unfortunately, this traditional and original fishery is now continued only by a few enterprises. One of them is the factory Homero Ortega (Cuenca).

Conclusion

It is noteworthy that the name of the hat "panama" is homonymous with respect to the name of the Central American country. However, this does not at all determine the origin of this headgear. It is obvious that the decisive argument about his belonging to the traditions of this or that people is the answer to the question "In which country is there a Panama in a national costume?" And this country is Ecuador.