# Bald Brides: An ethnographic question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bald-brides-an-ethnographic-question/414048>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 1, 2007, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bald-brides-an-ethnographic-question/414048 "2007-08-01T22:44:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Juliette\_Culture\_Junkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5fc32e/32.png) [@Juliette\_Culture\_Junkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juliette_Culture_Junkie)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2007, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bald-brides-an-ethnographic-question/414048/1 "2007-08-01T22:44:58Z")

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Hello, all! Long-time lurker, first-time poster here.  
Does anyone know of/has heard of a society in recent European history wherein a young woman who was about to be married is required to shave her head? The reasoning, IIRC, was that she must shave her head in order to look ill or unnatractive because an old feudal law had been in place that allowed the Lord of the land to take the virginity of any girl before her husband on the wedding night, and the tradition carried over to the present day (or whenever). I saw this in a documentary or ethnographic film a zillion years ago, and I remember that there was a bald peasant girl, definately white, who was tending to livestock and wore traditional-looking clothing (long dress) while the narrator discussed the tradition.

The only results I could find with Google or JSTOR were irrelivant. Did I imagine this or remember it all wrong, or is there some basis to the tradition?  
Thanks in advance!

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**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bald-brides-an-ethnographic-question/414048/2 "2007-08-02T00:07:39Z")

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[This link](http://books.google.com/books?id=cAxq_6svnOEC&pg=PA120&lpg=PA120&dq=custom+bride+shaved+head&source=web&ots=QEuWu8JOu2&sig=qyN3zqAk2VVGamHCASLb5A3_dZU) says they did it in Sparta, from Mortals and Immortals: Collected Essays By Jean Pierre Vernant.

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**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bald-brides-an-ethnographic-question/414048/3 "2007-08-02T00:08:47Z")

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[This link](http://philica.com/display_article.php?article_id=81) says they did it in Uganda.

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**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bald-brides-an-ethnographic-question/414048/4 "2007-08-02T00:12:12Z")

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[This link](http://www.urimpublications.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=UP&Product_Code=hr) says some Jewish women shave their heads and wear scarves.

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**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bald-brides-an-ethnographic-question/414048/5 "2007-08-02T00:50:52Z")

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[This link](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_181.html) says that the “old feudal law that allowed the Lord of the land to take the virginity of any girl before her husband on the wedding night” is a male fantasy and never existed. So that means that either you imagined it or the narrator made it up, or repeated something that someone else made up.