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I don't come from a head-covering tradition.

I am an elder in the Presbyterian church in Canada. No head covering here.

My family background is Scottish Presbyterian, Anglican and French-Canadian Catholic but I hardly ever went to church as a child so I cannot claim any of these traditions as essential to my current faith journey. Perhaps they are hidden in my DNA... my belief that scripture and biblical learning are for all people, my love of sensual worship involving light and scent and my connection to the Saints all lead me to wonder if our spiritual selves might be inherited like blue eyes, freckles and brown hair.

At work (in a Presbyterian Church) people have asked if I've become a Mennonite, a Mormon, a gypsy or a Doukhobor. It's all tongue in cheek but I find interesting that each person relates head covering to a very specific group of people.

Yet many women practice head covering. Some Muslim women cover. They come from all over the world, not from one specific ethnic group. The same with Roman Catholic women who cover and evangelical women who cover. There are Pagan women who cover as a response to a deity (eg. Hera) or as a rite of passage into womanhood. Some Orthodox and Jewish women also cover, adding to the diversity of head covering sisters.

To me, head covering has less to do with a specific religion and more to do with a personal response to spiritual calling.

This past weekend I went camping with the church and covered the whole time. It was terribly handy as my hair would have looked a mess otherwise. No one seemed to care, which was nice because I'm still not sure how to explain this in a proper, Presbyterian context. Mostly because there isn't a "proper" Presbyterian context for head covering.

All covered up for camping.