A loincloth is a one-piece garment, either wrapped around itself or kept in place by a

belt Belt may refer to: Apparel * Belt (clothing), a leather or fabric band worn around the waist * Championship belt, a type of trophy used primarily in combat sports * Colored belts, such as a black belt or red belt, worn by martial arts practiti ...

. It covers the genitals and, at least partially, the

buttocks The buttocks (singular: buttock) are two rounded portions of the exterior anatomy of most mammals, located on the posterior of the pelvic region. In humans, the buttocks are located between the lower back and the perineum. They are composed ...

. Loincloths which are held up by belts or strings are specifically known as breechcloth or breechclout.U.S. National Park Service
Retrieved on 2009-12-22.
. Retrieved on 2009-12-22. Often, the flaps hang down in front and back.

History and types

Loincloths are worn in societies where no other clothing is needed or wanted. Loincloths are commonly used as an

undergarment Undergarments, underclothing, or underwear are items of clothing worn beneath outer clothes, usually in direct contact with the skin, although they may comprise more than a single layer. They serve to keep outer garments from being soiled o ...

swimsuit A swimsuit is an item of clothing designed to be worn by people engaging in a water-based activity or water sports, such as swimming, diving and surfing, or sun-orientated activities, such as sun bathing. Different types may be worn by men, ...

by wrestlers and by farmers in

paddy field A paddy field is a flooded field of arable land used for growing semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro. It originates from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin in southern China, associated with pre-A ...

s in both

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

, where it is called Kovanam in Tamil, in Sinhala and kaupinam or langot. The loincloth, or breechcloth, is a basic form of dress, often worn as the only garment. Men have worn a loincloth as a fundamental piece of clothing which covers their genitals, not the buttocks, in most societies which disapproved of genital nakedness throughout human history. The loincloth is in essence a piece of material, bark- bast,

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hog ...

, or cloth, passed between the legs and covering the genitals. Despite its functional simplicity, the loincloth comes in many different forms. The styles in which breechcloths and loincloths can be arranged are myriad. Both the Bornean ''sirat'' and the Indian '' dhoti'' have fabric pass between the legs to support a man's genitals. A similar style of loincloth was also characteristic of ancient

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. Wit ...

. The male inhabitants of the area of modern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

wore a wound loincloth of woven fabric. One end of the loincloth was held up, the remainder passed between the thighs, wound about the waist, and secured in back by tucking.Local names:

Nahuatl Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have small ...

Mayan Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

. In Pre-Columbian

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

, ancient

Inca The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, ( Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The adm ...

men wore a strip of cloth between their legs held up by strings or tape as a belt. The cloth was secured to the tapes at the back and the front portion hung in front as an apron, always well ornamented. The same garment, mostly in plain

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

but whose aprons are now, like T-shirts, sometimes decorated with logos, is known in Japan as . Some of the culturally diverse Amazonian indigenous still wear an ancestral type of loincloth. Japanese men wore until recently a loincloth known as a . The is a piece of fabric (cotton or

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from th ...

) passed between the thighs and secured to cover the genitals.

Loincloths by culture

India

Unsewn Kaupinam and its later-era sewn variation langot are traditional clothes in India, worn as

underwear Undergarments, underclothing, or underwear are items of clothing worn beneath outer clothes, usually in direct contact with the skin, although they may comprise more than a single layer. They serve to keep outer garments from being soiled o ...

in dangal held in akharas especially

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat s ...

, to prevent hernias and

hydrocele A hydrocele is an accumulation of serous fluid in a body cavity. A hydrocele testis, the most common form of hydrocele, is the accumulation of fluids around a testicle. It is often caused by fluid collecting within a layer wrapped around the tes ...

. Kacchera is mandatory for

Sikhs Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism (Sikhi), a monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The ter ...

to wear.

Japan

Japanese men and women traditionally wore a loincloth known as a '' fundoshi''. The ''fundoshi'' is a 35 cm (14 in.) wide piece of fabric (cotton or

) passed between the thighs and secured to cover the genitals. There are many ways of tying the ''fundoshi''.

Native American

Two Mohave braves, western Arizona - Timothy O'Sullivan - NARA

In most Native American tribes, men used to wear some form of breechcloth, often with

leggings Leggings are several types of leg attire that have varied through the years. Modern usage from the 1960s onwards has come to refer to elastic close-fitting high-rise garments worn over the legs typically by women, such as leg warmers or tights ...

.Minor, Marz & Minor, Nono (1977)
''The American Indian Craft Book''
Bison Books. pp. 72–73. . Google Book Search. Retrieved on 2010-07-15.Mayfield, Thomas Jefferson (1997)
''Adopted by Indians: A True Story''
Heyday Books. p. 83. . Google Book Search. Retrieved on 2010-07-15.
Retrieved on 2010-07-15. The style differed from tribe to tribe. In many tribes, the flaps hung down in front and back; in others, the breechcloth looped outside the belt and was tucked into the inside, for a more fitted look. Sometimes, the breechcloth was much shorter and a decorated apron panel was attached in front and behind. A Native American woman or teenage

girl A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is accurately described as a ''woman''. However, the term ''girl'' is also used for other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.c ...

might also wear a fitted breechcloth underneath her skirt, but not as outerwear. However, in many tribes young girls did wear breechcloths like the boys until they became old enough for skirts and dresses. Among the

Mohave people Mohave or Mojave ( Mojave: 'Aha Makhav) are a Native American people indigenous to the Colorado River in the Mojave Desert. The Fort Mojave Indian Reservation includes territory within the borders of California, Arizona, and Nevada. The Colorado ...

of the American Southwest, a breechcloth given to a young female symbolically recognizes her status as ''hwame''.

Philippines

In the Philippines, loincloths are generally known as bahag. It is a single piece of long rectangular cloth and is not tied with a belt or a string. They were commonly used by men throughout the

pre-colonial Philippines Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...

. They were either made from

barkcloth Barkcloth or bark cloth is a versatile material that was once common in Asia, Africa, and the Pacific. Barkcloth comes primarily from trees of the family Moraceae, including ''Broussonetia papyrifera'', ''Artocarpus altilis'', ''Artocarpus ta ...

or from hand- woven textiles. Before the colonial period, bahag were a common garment for the commoners and servant class (the ''

alipin The ''alipin'' refers to the lowest social class among the various cultures of the Philippines before the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th and 17th centuries. In the Visayan languages, the equivalent social classes were known as the ''oripu ...

'' caste). It survives in some

indigenous tribes of the Philippines The Philippines consist of numerous upland and lowland indigenous ethnolinguistic groups living in the country, with Austronesians making up the overwhelming majority, while full or partial Negritos scattered throughout the archipelago. The high ...

today - most notably the Cordillerans in Northern

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

. Bahag were also favored among the

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The character ...

(''tumao'') and

warrior A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have be ...

(''timawa'') class of the pre-colonial Visayan people, as it shows off the elaborate full-body traditional tattoos ( batok) acquired via combat prowess and other significant achievements. The specific way to wear bahag involves first pulling the long rectangular piece of cloth (usually around ) in between the legs and covering the genitals, with a longer back part. The back part is then twisted across the right leg and across the waist in an anti-clockwise direction. It goes under the flap of the front part and across the left leg. It is twisted back across the back loop above the buttocks. The result resembles two rectangles of cloth hanging in front of and behind the waist, with a loop around the legs resembling a belt. The design of the weave is often unique to the tribe of the person wearing the bahag. The colors of the bahag can also indicate social status, with commoners usually wearing bahag in plain white. The native

Tagalog Tagalog may refer to: Language * Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines ** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language ** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language * Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Taga ...

word for "rainbow", ''bahaghari'', literally means "loincloth of the king".

Europe

Some European men around wore

breechcloths, as can be seen from the clothing of

Ötzi Ötzi, also called the Iceman, is the natural mummy of a man who lived some time between 3350 and 3105 BC, discovered in September 1991 in the Ötztal Alps (hence the nickname "Ötzi") on the border between Austria and Italy. Ötzi is believed to ...

.South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology
Retrieved 2010-07-15.

Ancient Romans In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–50 ...

wore a type of loincloth known as a subligaculum. The use of breechcloths took on common use by the Metis and Acadians and are mentioned as early as the 1650s. In the 1740s and 50s they were issued to the Canadien as part of their war uniform and in 1755 they even tried to issue them to soldiers from France. "During their travels across Canada, the French anadiensdress as the Indians; they do not wear breeches" “Many nations imitate the French customs; yet I observed, on the contrary, that the French in Canada, in many respects, follow the customs of the Indians, with whom they converse everyday. They make use of the tobacco pipes, shoes, garters, and girdles of the Indians.” -Peter Kalm, 1749. "Those who go to war receive a capot, two cotton shirts, one breechclout, one pair of leggings, on blanket, one pair of souliers de boeuf, a wood-handled knife, a worm and a musket when they do not bring any. The breechclout is a piece of broadcloth draped between the thighs in the Native manner and with the two ends held by a belt. One wears it without breeches to walk more easily in the woods." – d’Aleyrac, 1755–60. “During the week the men went about in their homes dressed much like the Indians, namely, in stockings and shoes like theirs, with garters, and a girdle about the waist; otherwise the clothing was like that of other Frenchmen.” (Kalm, p. 558). "The French familiarized themselves with us, Studied our Tongue, and Manners, wore our Dress, Married our Daughters, and our Sons their Maids" (Pontiac, Ottawa leader, 2.2.50-57)

Notes

References

External links

The Loincloth of BorneoBreechcloth on Wordnik, retrieved on 22.12.2009Breechcloth by Rick Obermeyer (Dec. 1990), retrieved on 22.12.2009
!--spacing--> {{Historical clothing Indian clothing Maya clothing Polynesian clothing Skirts Swimsuits Undergarments