The shawl

In Christian iconography, every shawl covering Mary’s head and shoulders in pictures or on sculptures bears the Greek word maphorion. There are very few Marian representations in the Orthodox Church without a shawl of some kind. And these have gotten longer over time. From the 13th century Mary is depicted as a mantle Madonna, inspired by the 10th century Greek legend of Andreas Salós. ‘Andrew, the Fool-for-Christ’ is said to have seen the Holy Virgin spread her shawl protectively over the heads of the worshippers during a vigil at the Church of Saint Mary of Blachernae in Constantinople.