Sackcloth ( ''śaq'') is a coarsely woven fabric, usually made of

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

's hair. The term in English often connotes the biblical usage, where the '' Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible'' remarks that haircloth would be more appropriate rendering of the Hebrew meaning. In some

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

traditions (notably

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

), the wearing of

hairshirt A cilice , also known as a sackcloth, was originally a garment or undergarment made of coarse cloth or animal hair (a hairshirt) worn close to the skin. It is used by members of various Christian traditions (including the Catholic, Lutheran, A ...

s continues as a self-imposed means of mortifying the flesh that is often practiced during the Christian

penitential A penitential is a book or set of church rules concerning the Christianity, Christian sacrament of penance, a "new manner of reconciliation with God in Christianity, God" that was first developed by Celtic monks in Ireland in the sixth century A ...

season of

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

, especially on

Ash Wednesday Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and falls on the first day of Lent (the six weeks of penitence before Easter). It is observed by Catholics in the Rom ...

Good Friday Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday (also Hol ...

, and other Fridays of the Lenten season.

As fabric

Hessian sackcloth Hessian (, ), burlap in the United States and Canada, or crocus in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean, is a woven fabric usually made from skin of the jute plant or sisal fibres, which may be combined with other vegetable fibres to make rope, nets, ...

or burlap is not the intended biblical meaning, according to a number of scholarly sources: but it is a common misconception based on phonetic association. "Sackcloth, usually made of black goat hair, was used by the Israelites and their neighbors in times of mourning or social protest." Burlap as another term used in English translation is also generally understood as goat haircloth. Stiff

camel hair Camel hair specifically refers to the fur from the body of a camel, but more generally refers to the fibre (and cloth) that may be made from either pure camel hair or a blend of camel hair and another fibre. Camel hair has two components: ''guard ...

was also used.

As garment

Sackcloth came to mean a garment, too, made from such cloth, which was worn as a token of mourning by the

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

. It was also a sign of submission (1 Kings 20:31–32), or of grief and self-humiliation (2 Kings 19:1), and was occasionally worn by the Prophets. It is often associated with ashes. The 1906

Jewish Encyclopedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on th ...

says the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

gives no exact description of the garment. According to

Adolf Kamphausen Adolf Kamphausen (10 September 1829 – 13 September 1909, in Bonn) was a German Protestant theologian. He was known for his liberal views in regard to Biblical exegesis.

, the sacḳ was like a corn-bag with an opening for the head, and another for each arm, an opening being made in the garment from top to bottom. Karl Grüneisen thought it resembled a hairy mantle used by the

Bedouins The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arabs, Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert ...

. Friedrich Schwally concluded otherwise that it originally was simply the

loin-cloth A loincloth is a one-piece garment, either wrapped around itself or kept in place by a Belt (clothing), belt. It covers the genitals and, at least partially, the buttocks. Loincloths which are held up by belts or strings are specifically known a ...

. Schwally based his opinion on the fact that the word "ḥagar" חָגַר (to gird) is used in describing the putting on of the garment (see Joshua 1:8; Isaiah 3:24, 15:8, 22:12; Jeremiah 6:26, 49:3). One fastens it around the

hip In vertebrate anatomy, hip (or "coxa"Latin ''coxa'' was used by Celsus in the sense "hip", but by Pliny the Elder in the sense "hip bone" (Diab, p 77) in medical terminology) refers to either an anatomical region or a joint. The hip region is ...

s ("sim be-motnayim", Genesis 37:34; "he'elah 'al motnayim", Amos 8:10), while, in describing taking it offing of the sacḳ, the words "pitteaḥ me-'al motnayim" are used (Isaiah 20:2). According to 1 Kings 21:27 and 2 Kings 6:30, it was worn next to the skin. In later times it came to be worn for religious purposes only, on extraordinary occasions, or at mourning ceremonies. Isaiah wore nothing else, and was commanded by God to don it (Isaiah 20:2). The Jewish Encyclopedia suggests that "old traditions about to die out easily assume a holy character".Joseph Jacobs, Wilhelm Nowack
Sackcloth
accessed 20 January 2018 Thus Schwally points to the circumstance that the Muslim pilgrim, as soon as he puts his foot on

Ḥaram Haram ( ar, حرم, translit=ḥaram, lit=sanctuary) is one of several similar words originating from the triliteral Semitic root Ḥ-R-M. The word literally means "sanctuary," commonly used by Muslims to refer to the holy sites of Islam and t ...

, the holy soil, takes off all the clothes he is wearing, and dons the iḥram.

References

*''Much of this article is taken fro
the article ''Sackcloth''
by Joseph Jacobs and Wilhelm Nowack in the 1906

, now in the public domain in the United States as a work published before 1923.'' * Schwally, ''Das Leben nach dem Tode'' (The Life After Death), pp. 11 et seq., Giessen, 1892 {{commons category, Sackcloth, lcfirst=yes Textiles

As fabric

As garment

See also

References