The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (910 page)

 
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Habakkuk, Book of
.

(Vulgate
Habacuc
). One of the
Minor Prophets
of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament. A commentary on Habakkuk is among the most important of the
Dead Sea Scrolls
.

 
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aber
(member of Jewish group)
:

see
AVER
.

 
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(‘
prw
of the Egyptian Tel el-Amarna letters,
hab/hapiru
in correspondence of Amenophis III and IV). A group or groups of people mentioned in Middle Eastern documents from the 18th to 12th cents. BCE. There has been much scholarly speculation as to the connection between the Habiru and the Hebrews
(Heb., ‘
ibri
), but identity between the two is unlikely.

 
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Habit, religious
.

Distinctive dress worn by members of religious orders. In W. Christianity, these are usually white (
Cistercians
), brown (
Franciscans
), or black (
Dominicans
). In addition to the main garment, it usually includes a girdle (often with three knots for the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience), scapular (a long piece of cloth worn on the shoulders and hanging down back and front, symbolizing the yoke of Christ), and a hood (for men) or veil (for women).
In E. Orthodoxy, the different habits reflect different stages in the monastic life. A beginner wears the
proschema
, with an inner and outer
cassock
-type garment (
rason
), with a leather belt, a round cap, and sandals. The next stage may substitute a cloak (
mandyas
) for the outer
rason
, which in any case will be fuller; a wooden cross is worn. The final stage introduces something like a scapular (
analavos
) which is decorated with representations of the instruments of the
Passion
. There may also be a hood or cowl (
koukoulos
).
In E. religions, the equivalent of the religious habit appears with varying degrees of formality. In the Buddhist
sa
gha
, a three-part dress was adopted: the lower body is clothed in the
antaravasaka
(a kind of sarong); the
uttarasa
gha
or
c
vara
in Thailand (a length of woven cloth) surrounds the upper body; and the
sa
ghati or ka
ya
(a patchwork cloth to symbolize poverty) is worn over the left shoulder.
Ka
ya
(‘earth coloured’) refers to the ‘impure’ (aged or faded) colour of the cloth, in contrast to pure (bleached) white: it is the yellow dye used to create this effect which leads to the characteristic ‘saffron robe’. For the Japanese habit, see
SANNE
.
Taoist ritual functionaries wear a cloak (
chiang-i
) which has on it symbols of the cosmos with which the ritual is making connection.
In Judaism, the specialized garments of the
Temple
functionaries ceased with the destruction of the Temple. A rabbi has no specialized ritual role, and therefore wears the same ‘religious habit’ in the
synagogue
as any other man in the assembly:
tallit
(prayer shawl with
zitzit
, tassels),
tefillin
(phylacteries), and kippah or
yarmulke
(skull-cap).
Among Sikhs, formal dress requirements apply only to
amritdh
r
Sikhs (see
FIVE KS
), but some customs have also established themselves.
For Muslim veiling, see HIJ
B.