Admit it, you were just as fascinated as I was when you first heard about Fez. And most probably, the thing playing in your imagination then is a picture of a red turban-like hat with a tassel hanging over the side. Before I even knew about Fez as one of the four imperial cities in Morocco, I already knew Fez as the headdress which is part of the Islam tradition.

Before I go over the details of my Fez adventures, I want to share first some fun Fez facts I found on the Internet while surfing using the Wi-Fi service in my Fez hotel. The fun info I am going to dish out are not about the Fez city in Morocco. Instead, the Fez facts you are about to read are related to the Fez that you can actually wear.

Origins
The fez hat originated from Fez, Morocco. However, the design and form were inspired by the cap worn by the Greeks and the spiritual heads of the Ottoman Empire during the 19th century.

Variations
The name Fez is not a universally accepted term for that “red turban-like hat with a tassel hanging over the side”. Different cultures have their own name and design versions of Fez. In Turkey, particularly Istanbul, they referred to it as “Phecy”, “Fez” or “Fezzy”. While in Egypt, the two Persian words “Sar”, which means head, and “Poosh”, meaning cover, were combined to arrive at the term “Tarboosh” or “head cover”.

Myth and Truth About the Color
Comic book artist Jack Chick once did an anti-freemasonry comic strip that featured a tall-tale about the Fez cap. He said that the original Fez cap was dyed with the blood of murdered Christians. This is just a myth. The truth is, the unique shade of red Fez came from the pigment emitted by the crimson-colored berries of Boxwood plant called Akenia in Greece and Kizziljiek in Turkey.

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