What Is This?

What would you think if a young man, a fellow student of my daughter's at college, gifted her with a black and gold length of cloth, infused with the scent of sandalwood and told her that he would "show her how to put it on"? This "garment" was one of many gifts she received from friends on her 20th birthday after an evening dining at a local restaurant. This gift made her uncomfortable; she offered her thanks but packed the piece away feeling uncertain about why he would gift her with this item; perhaps too personal for their relationship? Was it a Muslim hijab, she wondered? Apparently this would not have been totally out of the question in this setting. I know no further details.

In the process of unpacking all of her "stuff" from school, the gift reappeared, ripe with the scent of sandalwood. I'm not exactly sure what this piece represents; from my reading a hijab is typically a square piece of cloth and this one is about 5 feet by 2 feet, obviously an oblong. Probably it is a neck scarf or a shawl. She wants nothing to do with this gift so it now belongs to me; I wasn't ready to put it in the Goodwill box just yet. I'm fascinated because I'm trying to piece together bits of information like the who, what, why stuff but details extract slowly from the source. Plus, I like the scent. Sandalwood always takes me back to my early teenage years in Aruba when my friends and I burned sandalwood incense constantly and dreamed of far off and mystical places where a princess might lounge, stretched out on a chaise long cooled by servants waving large fans made of colorful ostrich feathers.

But, back to this "piece"....whatever it is and whatever its intent, I'll keep it for now and acknowledge that like many things in life, it raises more questions than it answers.