May 15 - Straw Hat Day

Even though June 20 is the first day of summer, today is Straw Hat Day which is an early sign of summer.  In years past it was very common for men (and women) to wear heavy wool hats through the cold months. But on May 15, the wool hats were stored away and the cooler straw hat was brought out as the preferred head covering.

Straw hats are worn in almost every culture and social class.  President Roosevelt was known for his "Panama" straw hat. But there was an unwritten rule in the early 1900's that you were NOT supposed to wear a straw hat beyond September 15.  If you spotted someone wearing a straw hat after September 15, it was "accepted" to knock the person's hat off and stomp on it.

Some people took the ritual so seriously and in 1922 a riot broke out in New York and many people ended up in the hospital or in jail.  The riot and fight started over someone stomping on someone's straw hat.  That's really too bad. What started out as just a change of hat for the season, ended up hurting a lot of people.

Is there a spiritual lesson to think about today as you find your straw hat?  What comes to mind is the verse in Ephesians 4:22-24 where Paul tells us to put off your old self and put on the new self that was created after the likeness of God.  Put away your old things (wool hat or your old sinful ways) and put on something new (like a straw hat, or start your new life in Jesus.)  2 Corinthians 5:17 says that when we start a new faith walk with Jesus that the "old is gone, the new is come."  Maybe your hat can remind you today that you are a new person in Jesus.

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