The Red Hat Society, an association in which members wear red hats, started as a joke in America and has grown in a few decades into a global movement where women aged 50 and older can join for fun and friendship. to experience. Characteristic is the red hat and purple clothing. The Netherlands has several chapters of the Red Hat Society.
Members of Chapter Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel visit Hollum On Ameland / Source: Persbureau Ameland
Ladies with a red headgear
- Red Hat Society
- Girlfriends
- Rode Hoed in the Netherlands
- Fifty years
- RHS – Red Hatters
- Poem by Jenny Joseph
- Chapters – Departments
- Convention
- Member
Red Hat Society
It started with a poem by Jenny Joseph in 1961. She gave a friend a red hat as a gift; both ladies were now over 50. In that poem, the poet makes fun of sedate fifty-somethings and warns that the fifty-something in the poem will do naughty things. For example, she is going to buy a purple dress and wear a red hat, a hat ‘that doesn’t suit me and doesn’t fit me’. The fifty-something didn’t care, because she was having fun.
Girlfriends
The joke in the poem was followed by the poet’s friends. They once all put on a red hat for a tea party. That joke spread like wildfire; more and more friends wore a red hat at gatherings and they all thought it was great fun and funny. The media picked up on the phenomenon and it was written about in newspapers and magazines. The Red Hat Society was founded in 1998 by Sue Ellen Cooper from Fullerton, California in the United States. When the ladies with the red hats were allowed to tell their story on television in a Today show , the story was over. That was in 2000.
Tour through Hollum and explanation at the old bakery about ,having something in mind, / Source: Persbureau Ameland
Rode Hoed in the Netherlands
The Dutch media picked up the movement in America and published about it here. An article in 2005 in NRC-Handelsblad was the starting point of the Dutch branch of the Red Hat Society. The movement inspires women all over the world and the red hat is enthusiastically received everywhere. There are more than a million members worldwide and the Netherlands has more than a hundred chapters.
Fifty years
The ladies of the Red Hat Society (RHS) are all about having fun after your fiftieth birthday. Standing out is usually no longer an option for middle-aged women and that invisibility is not pleasant. The ladies of the RHS want to stand out and above all have fun. That’s why they dress up in bright colors and the red hat is the crowning glory of a playful spirit and exuberant personality. In any case, it gives space to be playful and exuberant, the opposite of geraniums, which many older women end up behind.
RHS – Red Hatters
The ladies of the RHS, the Red Hatters, enjoy the friendship of fellow Red Hatters in the Netherlands or elsewhere in the world. All members of the RHS are members of the parent organization in America. The super queen or chairman also resides there . In the Netherlands they speak of chapters , departments, with a queen as department chair.
Poem by Jenny Joseph
Below is a translation of Jenny Joseph’s poem that started it all.
Warning
When I’m old I’m going to buy purple dresses
and add a red hat That doesn’t suit me, but I can already see myself walking
and I’m wasting my state pension On drinks and gloves with buttons
I walk through the department stores in crazy slippers and grab wantonly for free monsters together I press bells until my ears ring I rattle along steel pipes with a stick
and when I get tired I sit on the sidewalk
No rules can bluff me anymore I deal with my civilized youth I go splashing through the puddles on slippers I steal flowers the garden of strangers Standing out becomes a virtue for me
And I’m also going to try to chug.
Chapters – Departments
The departments, chapters , in the Netherlands all have their own chapter name, chapter ID, queen and slogan.
As an example: for chapter Stiens this is:
- Chapter name: Tusken Waed en Wâld
- Chapter ID: 85385
- Queen: Hillegonda Countess of Puffelen
- Slogan: Relax take a cappuccino
Some chapters are still accepting new members, others, such as Stiens’, are full and closed to new members.
Source: Redhatsociety.site-ym.com
Convention
RHS organizes various activities, such as Queen’s lunch, lunch concert, Christmas meeting and meetings between the various chapters. A large meeting is held annually in the Netherlands, called the Convention. The Convention is usually in April and if possible on April 25, the official Red Hat Society day. An International Convention is also regularly organised. For example, the one in 2017 was in February in New York and in 2019 in Nashville.
Member
Any woman aged 50 or older can become a member of the RHS. Members are required to wear a red hat with a purple garment underneath during activities. All Dutch chapters are members of the American organization. The name Red Hat Society is a registered and protected name.
Pink hat
Anyone who is not yet 50 and still wants to participate wears a pink hat and lilac clothing.
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