Thinking Medieval: Scarterra has lots of people wearing hats

If you look at medieval European art. More often than not the people in said art have hats or head coverings.     This doesn't just apply to Europe. In pretty much the entire pre-industrial history of Earth in every corner of the planet, hats were very commonly worn by men and women of every social class. It was only in the middle of the 20th century that hats began to fall out of favor as a fashion choice in the West and this tendency spread to the rest of the world from the West.   All the same reasons for historical Earth humans wearing hats and head coverings apply to most Scarterrans.  

Hats help regulate heat

  A large part of the reason that hats fell out of favor in the 20th century of Earth is because climate controlled buildings and vehicles became very common.   A lot of heat radiates out of the forehead and that's why putting a hat on when it's cold becomes a necessity. The right hats can keep the sun off a person and helps keep someone cool when it's hot, especially if part of a hat or covering is soaked in cool water.   Scarterra has more or less the same range of temperatures that Earth has, so hats and head coverings are widely useful for survival and comfort.    

Hats convey status

  In historical Earth and Scarterra, hats often conveyed social status. Many times hats denote a person's profession and thus indirectly reveal social status.   Two things caused this cultural tendency of hats revealing status to fall out of favor in real world Earth. First, automobiles with shorter ceilings made high status hats, especially vertically oriented hats less practical, especially top hats and other vertically oriented caps. Second, modern Western notes of equality led to more wealthy people to not want to lord it over "the commoners"...at least not with their hats. But Scarterra doesn't have automobiles or modern Western notions of equality, at least not yet. But even in the 21st century which modern notions of equality, we still use hats to denote professions and to an extant, authority.   Hat traditions vary in Scarterra from place to place and culture to culture, but there are some generalities. Fancy folk tend to wear fancy hats. Simple folk tend to wear simple hats. Gnomes wear Phrygian Hats as a symbol of their gnome-ness. Mages commonly wear ornate floppy pointed hats. Elves aim for elegant simplicity in their head coverings.    

Helmets provide protection

     

Head coverings help with hygiene

  One of the lesser thought of uses of hats applies to both pre-industrial Earth humans and many Scarterrans. Wearing head coverings keeps a person's hair clean of debris (though not necessarily clean of sweat).   Most Scarterrans work as farmers or have a profession that is farmer-adjacent, so that means outside work is the norm. Outside means dust and pollen and other floating debris that can get stuck in a man or a woman's hair.   Working inside isn't much better. Whether working as a potter, blacksmith, cook, or most other professions usually inovolves working near a fire for long periods of time. Even just relaxing and home or in a tavern usually involves spending a lot of time near a fire. This can make hair smoky and sooty.   Clean water is slightly more readily available in Scarterra than it was in most Earth societies before the widespread implementation of running water. Still, Scarterrans either have to bathe in cold water or heat bath water on a stove. Gratutious hair washing is a luxury largely constrained to the upper classes. Keeping one's hair covered most of the time means you don't have to wash it as often.  

Head Coverings a tool of Modesty

    In medieval Europe and many other places and eras in real world Earth (including the 21st century), head coverings that cover hair were often done, at least in part, for purposes of modesty. This applies more to women than to men but it applies both ways.   Of all the aspects of "Thinking Medieval" aspects that apply to hats, this may be the part that applies least to Scarterra. Which isn't to say that Scarterrans don't value modesty. I just would say that Scarterrans on average, are noticeably less concerned with modesty than medieval Europeans were.   If you average the ten major priesthoods in Scarterra and take an amalgam of their cultural values, they are going to be less concerned with modesty than the medieval Catholic Church was, Admittedly I'm still working out the specifics of Scarterran attitudes towards modesty which may or may not warrant its own future article.