Widow’s Mohawk

The so-called “widow’s mohawk” was a hairstyle worn by widowed members of a Bekiskapan Triad as a symbol of their grief, their thirst for vengeance, and their desire to find a new partner to fill out their trio.

For centuries after the disappearance of the Bekiskapan at the end of the First Age, Edenians wore the hairstyle in tribute to their lost heroes. In modern-day Eden, however, the tradition is considered old-fashioned. For example, most of the Bekiska-worshipping Aünapa see the wearing of a widow’s mohawk as a symbol of an unhealthy attachment, and of a person’s lack of self-reliance.

History

The widow’s mohawk was first worn by the Bekiskapan during their time in the Earth-665 iteration of reality. Though similar hairstyles were worn for battle by peoples all across their planet—in The United Nations of Polynesia, the Turtle Island Alliance, and the Atlantean Confederation, as well—the use of the hairstyle as a sign of mourning is believed to be unique.

In Eden, after The Calamity brought the Bekiskapan and others into this purgatorial paradise, the widow’s mohawk remained an isolated tradition until after the Battle of Frankburg Bridge. After that, as a tribute to the culture who had saved them from the Monster Hordes, the tradition was adopted widely by peoples of all species and ethnicities. And though some later Edenians would call this cultural appropriation, first-hand accounts from the time indicate that the Bekiskapan appreciated and approved of the practice.

Execution

The sides of the head are either shaved or plucked, leaving the scalp bald but for a thick central strip of hair atop the crown. This may be done as early as the moments after the loved one has died on the battlefield, or as late as months later, after the remaining members of a triad are finally willing to admit their partner truly is lost to them.

For the Bekiskapan, the hair was typically kept short until the surviving members of a triad found a new third to join them or they themselves were absorbed into other triads. After that happened, the heads of all three members of a triad were typically shaved clean to signal their union with one another.

For non-Bekiskapan, execution of the tradition varied widely. That said, the most common practice was to shave the head completely once grief had been mastered or vengeance had been gained.

Related Ethnicities

• Bekiskapan