'Cowboy' Pakistani cricketer: Why is the American identity symbol 'Stetson hat' popular

 'Cowboy' Pakistani cricketer: Why is the American identity symbol 'Stetson hat' popular?

 

 

Following the tradition of 'Jisa Des, Visa Bhais', pictures of several players of the Pakistani cricket team in the American state of Texas wearing 'Cowboy Hat' or 'Stetson Hat' are currently viral on social media.

The Pakistan cricket team is currently in Dallas, Texas, where they will play their first match of the tournament against the host team USA on Thursday.

Yesterday, while the videos and photos of the team's training were circulating on social media, there were pictures of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed and Imad Wasim wearing cowboy hats and made by the ICC media team. The video also went viral on social media.

Also, several players, including Abbas Afridi, have shared pictures of themselves watching the famous bullfight. Pakistani batsman Iftikhar Ahmed also shared a similar video which appears to have been made in a local roping ring.

On social media where users are routinely advising these players to 'focus on cricket', many users are curious about the Texas and cowboy culture and their hats after sharing these photos. goes

Let us tell you what 'cowboy culture' is and how cowboys wearing hats became so important in American culture that they were worn by American presidents at different times and became a symbol of American identity. gone.

Where did cowboys come from in America?

When Spanish settlers arrived in America in 1519, they began building more cattle ranches to raise their cattle. Meanwhile, horses were imported from Spain.

The indigenous cowboys of Mexico are called 'vaqueros' which comes from the Spanish word 'vaca' which means cow. Vicaros were hired by ranchers to look after their cattle and had excellent experience in roping cattle, riding horses, and herding cattle.

In the 18th century, cattle breeding began in present-day Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and even Argentina.

In the early 19th century, a number of English-speaking settlers migrated to the western states of the United States and adopted many aspects of the Wacoro culture, including their distinctive clothing and methods of riding and herding cattle.

Because the work of cowboys was very difficult and laborious and they had to live in isolation, it was considered a job only for the hardy.

Cowboys came from a variety of nationalities, including African-Americans, Native Americans and Mexicans, and Eastern Americans and settlers from Europe, but it is also said that one in four cowboys were black.

However, in later Hollywood films cowboys were identified as a white male and America introduced these cowboy hats to the world through its Hollywood machinery.

In this regard, a cowboy was used by the cigarette company Marlboro in its advertising campaign in 1954, after which the term 'Marlboro Man' became popular worldw.

The trip credited to American cowboys

In the American state of Texas, considered the center of 'cowboy country', these cowboys are still seen riding various animals for tourists on Exchange Street.

It commemorates the historic journey of cowboys from the American West on oxen to markets in the north.

Cowboy historian Frank Milano tells BBC2 how bull riding and long-distance travel began. In 1865, the American Civil War had ended and Texas was under the control of the 

Confederates who had lost the war.

When Confederate soldiers returned home from war, Confederate wealth was worthless because there was no gold or silver to add value to the currency. So the state of Texas was bankrupt. In the north, Chicago, New York and Boston, people had machinery and wealth. They had won the war but they lacked one thing, and that was meat.

Thus, Confederate soldiers came up with the idea of ​​selling meat to the northern territories. These animals were taken there and sold for 30 to 35 dollars and the same animals were sold for one to two dollars in Texas.

So many Hollywood movies have been made on cowboys and they have been used as advertisement campaigns for cigarettes by foreign companies in Pakistan, but all of them have unique cowboy hats.

The cowboy hat has long been seen as a symbol of masculinity in America. However, recently, American popular singer Beyoncé, for the launch and promotion of her new album, not only put a cowboy hat on the cover of the album, but also wore it during the Paris Fashion Week.

Journalist and cultural critic Brittney Lowes, speaking of the resurgence of hat-wearing fashion, says that 'people are now embracing the role of cowboys with pride and as a community. And these are people who have traditionally thought of themselves as less than individual heroes in a white, patriarchal society in this regard.'

The modern cowboy hat was actually designed by John Stetson, born in 1830, and that's why the hat is still called the Stetson hat today.

Earlier cowboys wore different types of hats. Stetson created a hat that also provided shade and was comfortable for cowboys working in the sun.