Talk:Train (clothing)

I think there is a connection between the modern day uses of the word TRAIN and historic, even Biblical use of the word.

Today we think of train in two basic ways: train as in to instruct or discipline whether it is to train a soldier for combat or to train a plant to grow in a desired position. We also commonly think of train as a series of cars pulled behind an engine (transportation.) Less common with a strong historic root is the clothing train as is the long material flowing behind a wedding dress. In the bible, the prophet Isaiah records a glorious sighting of God "high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple."

I think there is a common thought behind all of these definitions. I think train originally train was used in the sense of teaching one's offspring to continue in the values, traditions and behaviour of the parents/community. There was an extremely strong significance attached to this, lest the values be lost forever. The idea of pulling something behind you is the idea of accumulating more and more people through time who carry on those values and traditions, a train of people all following the same principles, going in the same way. This is heritage; this is legacy. Hence, the longer the train, the more impactful and significant your heritage is. In the bible, the prophet Isaiah shares a glorious sighting of God when he records "In the year king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. He was high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple." I think the significance of this is that God Himself has a rich heritage of followers, namely the children of Israel at that time and subsequently all those who are followers of His in the faith. I think the bride's train on her wedding dress is a propos of that, a marker of being fruitful and prosperous, not only of bearing children and continuing the family name, but of raising up a generation of those who uphold the good and shared values well. Hence, I think the longer and more opulent the train was signifies the longer and more potent the family line is or the desire for it to be.

alexahawk —Preceding unsigned comment added by Alexahawk (talk • contribs) 11:55, 29 April 2009 (UTC)