Monday was World Hijab Day. You may not have heard about it because the movement to set aside Feb. 1 to support the choice of Muslim women to wear the headscarf known as a hijab was started only three years ago by a New York resident named Nazma Kahn.
But the day was celebrated in St. Paul thanks to the effort of three teenage girls.
Mariyama Aman, 18, a St. Paul senior at Harding High School, and sisters Sakinah Muhammad, 16, and Dariyah Muhammad, 17, of Woodbury and Tartan High School, organized a World Hijab Day gathering at the West Minnehaha Recreation Center in the Frogtown neighborhood.
The teenagers said they hoped the event, which included trivia questions, a hijab tutorial, poetry performances, face painting and free food, would help answer questions and dispel myths about the hijab.
According to the World Hijab Day website, for many people, the head covering worn by observant Muslim women "is a symbol of oppression and segregation."
But the organ izers of the St. Paul event say the hijab for them is empowering, a symbol of women's diversity, a sign of hope, modesty and faith.
"We're not oppressed. This is by our choice," Aman said.
Because it makes observant women so identifiably Muslim, the hijab can make women a target of anti-Muslim harassment. But Aman said she has found it easy to wear her hijab in the Twin Cities because "Minnesota is very open-minded and diverse."
But college student Naima Haro, 20, of St. Paul, said she remembers not wearing her hijab in fourth, fifth and sixth grades. She said she was the only girl in her public school wearing the head scarf and "I just wanted to fit in and just blend in with everyone."
"People would stare at me, and I didn't like that," she said.
"I was kind of losing my identity," she said of the time she stopped wearing a hijab. "But at the same time, I wanted to be cool."
"Sometimes, you get a few stares," said Dariyah Mu hammad. And there are questions: Why do you wear that? Are you Muslim? Do you wear that at home? Or in the shower? When you're playing sports?
The most common question: Are you hot in that?
No, said Sakinah Muhammad. "It's very comfortable. It's become part of us," she said.
Hijabs aren't worn in the shower or in the home as long as males who aren't close relatives aren't present. And there are hijabs suitable for playing sports.
"It protects me when I put it on. It's comfortable," Aman said. "It's a part of your religion. It's part of who you are."
"It makes me feel proud and modest," said Sakinah Muhammad.
Christine Chitambar brought her 5-year-old daughter, Lucy Baker, to the event.
"We're Episcopals," Chitambar said. But she said Lucy often encounters girls at the playground with head coverings. They thought this would be a good way to find out about the practice.
Chitambar is of East Indian descent, but Luc y resembles her father and is fair-haired.
"I'm a minority, and my kids are not," Chitambar said. "It's important to me that they're exposed to other cultures."
Zerbine Rypa, 19, a University of Minnesota student from St. Paul, doesn't wear a hijab. But in a spoken-word performance at the event, she defended the choice of women to do what they want with what's on their head:
"Let me love my hair. Let me love if it's straight. Let me love it if it's curly. Let me love it if it's kinky. And if I want to cover it up, let me love that, too," Rypa said.
