Witch hat
A witch hat (), in popular culture, is the style of hat characterized by a conical crown and a wide brim (like akubras and gats).
The origins of the witch hat as displayed today is disputed. A common theory is that it is an exaggeration of the edgeless hats associated with the Welsh and later the Puritans, or an exaggeration of the conical hats believed to stimulate the brain of the wearer. These "thinking caps" are the precursors to the modern dunce cap. Church despised pointy hats given that the points were often related to those of the devil's horns. The witch hat is a more brimmed version of the cone-shaped hats commonly worn by male-gendered wizards and magicians, as the hat was more brimmed for it to be female-appropriate. As of the Victorian era, fairy tales began depicting black-colored conical hats and crones as symbols of wickedness in their illustrations. Another possibility is that in Luna, a town of the Etruscan civilization, there were coins on one side depicting a goddess commonly associated with witches, named Diana, wearing a brimless, cone-shaped hat.
Għonnella
According to yet another legend, the "għonnella" developed due to the strict Canonical requirement (pre-Vatican Council II) that women veil their head before entering a Catholic church. It is said that poorer country girls, who could not afford a cloak or shawl, met the veiling requirement by placing a spare skirt over their head, which gradually evolved into the "għonnella". Others speculate that it is a vernacular modification of the eastern veil; it could also be a local variation of the Spanish mantilla. Ghonnella from Italian Gonnella, diminutive for Gonna = Skirt.
There are references to the "għonnella" in the early records of the Knights of St. John (Order of Malta), and in eighteenth century travel books. Louis De Boiseglin, historian of the Knights of Malta wrote as follows:
""The Maltese women are little, and have beautiful hands and feet. They have fine black eyes, though they sometimes appear to squint, owing to their always looking out of the same eye; half of the face being covered with a sort of veil made of silk called Faldetta, which they twist about very gracefully, and arrange with much elegance. The women even of the highest rank, unlike their husbands, constantly preserve their costume; and any one who should adopt the French fashion would make herself very ridiculous. They are extremely fond of gold and silver ornaments, and it is not uncommon to see even the peasants loaded with trinkets of those metals.""
Victorian illustrator and traveller, William Henry Bartlett, was clearly intrigued by the "Faldetta", describing it as follows in 1851:
""Next, tripping lightly down the steps behind, is a Maltese lady, enveloped in her elegant black silk mantilla, a costume of which it may be said that it renders even the ugly attractive, while the pretty become positively irresistible: so grave, and yet so piquante, so nun-like, and yet so coquettish, are its rustling folds, tastefully drawn round the head, so as to throw additional expression into a deep dark eye, and to relieve a white-gloved hand, and taper Andalusian foot.""
For centuries, the "għonnella" was ubiquitous throughout Malta, worn by virtually all adult Maltese women.