A couple of days ago, we published a guest article by a Chinese reader about the tsikin (also transcribed as jijin), the liturgical hat worn by priests in China, where traditionally it was considered a matter of shame for a man to appear in public without a hat. Here are some additions photos from our guest author of the hat being used during various liturgical function. The first four of these pictures were taken by an Italian priest, Fr Leone Nani, between 1905-1914, in Hanzong, Shanxi.
Consecration of a new bell in the cathedral by the Apostolic Vicar Bishop Pio Giuseppe Passerini, PIME, in the Vicariate Apostolic of Scen-Si Meridionale, China.
Vestments and embroidery made at the school of the Canossian Sisters, with a tsikin in the middle background.
A priest celebrating Mass in the chapel of Xujiahui (Zi Ka Wei) Cathedral, Shanghai, in the 1870s. (Public domain image from the Chinese Wikipedia.)
His Excellency Théodore-Herman Rutjes, C.I.C.M, the first bishop of the Vicariate Apostolic of Eastern Mongolia.
Consecration of a new bell in the cathedral by the Apostolic Vicar Bishop Pio Giuseppe Passerini, PIME, in the Vicariate Apostolic of Scen-Si Meridionale, China.
Priests wearing the tsikin during the liturgy.
Also worn by altar-servers - tradition will always be for the young!
