Bandanas!

Last Post

2010-09-16T13:50:00.001+12:00

No, not the last post, really. The Bandanas!-Blog has moved to a new page, under a new name: www.no-tie.blogspot.com.

Hope to see you there soon!

Still seeing Red in Stavropol in 2010

2010-09-16T07:30:00.001+12:00

A boy wearing a red neckerchief, the symbol of the young Pioneer organization, smiles in front of a monument to Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin during the inauguration ceremony of newly adopted members of the movement on the day of its anniversary in Russia's southern city of Stavropol May 19, 2010.

Extract of this article in the C.S. Monitor

Becoming a Jungmaedel

2010-09-13T07:30:00.001+12:00

From the 1940 Youth Leadership pamphlet for new members of the Jungmaedel, "The Jungmaedel Service":

The neckerchief and leather knot are always worn with your blouse. The neckerchief is a black triangle that is folded until only a small corner of about three fingers shows from underneath the collar in the back. Your leader will teach you how to fold the neckerchief. The leather knot is natural brown in color. It's used to hold the neckerchief.

Anarchist Neckerchief through this Blog!

2010-09-10T13:39:00.002+12:00

The red-and-black flag is the symbol of the anarcho-syndicalist and anarcho-communist movements. Black is the traditional color of anarchism, and red is the traditional color of socialism. The red-and-black flag combines the two colors in equal parts, with a simple diagonal split. Typically, the red section is placed on the top-left corner, with the black on the bottom-right corner of the flag. This symbolizes the co-existence of anarchist and socialist ideals within the anarcho-syndicalism movement, and to symbolize the more socialistic means of the movement leading to a more anarchistic end.

The colours became best known during the Spanish Civil War, with members of the CNT and other anarchist movements adopted them for their flags, neckerchiefs and hats. Some beautiful pictures of the use of this neckerchief can be seen in the movie Libertarias, a must-see for anyone interested in the Spanish Civil War, Anarchism and the history of Socialism and Communism.

Now available through this site:

Large size triangular neckerchief in Black and Red

100% Cotton

Dimensions: 115cm (45") x 81cm (32")

Red Youth

2010-09-10T07:30:00.000+12:00

No, the following article on www.MosNews.com is not from the pre-1990's Soviet Union, but this year's May. They are still around, the Red Youth with their trademark neckers.

The head of Russia's Communist Party congratulated about 3,000Moscow kids who signed up for the Pioneer Movement Sunday in a ceremony at Lenin's mausoleum.

Vladimir Zyuganov told the youngsters that donning the movement's trademark red neckerchief signified they had "taken on the responsibility of fulfilling the best traditions of our great Soviet nation."

"I congratulate you, thank you for this responsible step, and hope that you will, with honor, declare your loyalty to the red banner," Zyuganov said.

The new Pioneers responded by chanting movement slogans, laying flowers in honor of Lenin and posing for photos with Zyuganov.

May 19 was celebrated as Pioneer Day in the USSR, but is no longer an official holiday inRussia.

Subcomandante Marcos

2010-09-07T07:30:00.000+12:00

Subcomandante Marcos (Date of birth unknown), is the spokesperson for the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), a Mexican rebel movement. In January 1994, he led an army of Mayan farmers into the eastern parts of the Mexican state of Chiapas in protest of the Mexican government's treatment of indigenous peoples.

Marcos is an author, political poet, adroit humorist, and outspoken opponent of capitalism. Marcos has advocated having the Mexican constitution amended to recognize the rights of the country's indigenous inhabitants. The internationally known guerrillero has been described as a "new" and "postmodern" Che Guevara.

The nom de guerre "Marcos" is the name of a friend killed at a military road checkpoint. He is known as Delegado Cero (Delegate Zero) in matters concerning the Other Campaign. He is only seen wearing a balaclava, a bandana around his neck and a pipe in his mouth.

His true identity remains unknown.

Ché Guevara

2010-09-04T07:30:00.001+12:00

A blog on bandanas may not be the best possible forum to discuss politics, but it does amaze me time and time again how people adore this symbol of rebellion and revolution; not the under privileged, but very much the wealthy, hip and chic (that are so much what Ché fought against).

Yes, Ché was in many ways an admirable man, a tireless revolutionary with great ideas and a much needed initiator of social reform, but at the same time he was, and became more and more so, a totalitarian, a murderer, the founder of Cuba's notorious labor camps, a strict censor of writing and music and head of a firing squad – eliminating his political enemies.

A member of Red Youth Vanguard leftist political party with his face wrapped in a bandana sporting a portrait of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, takes part in a 2004 rally in Moscow. Hundreds of protesters gathered to mark the anniversary of the 'pro-communist coup d'etat of 1993'.

Much has been written, sung and filmed about Ché, pro and contra and even more can be found on the web.

One interesting article on the commercialization of Ché's image can be found here; and more specifically on the famous photo that adorns bandanas, upper arms & breasts, baseball caps, knickers, toilet paper and bikini briefs.

Carabinieri

2010-09-01T07:30:00.000+12:00

Such a universal piece of material... Not only worn by activists, anarchists, cowboys and bank robbers, but also as a piece of uniform of the Italian Carabinieri.

And quite a nice one, it is. For those of you interested in wearing part of a police outfit, they can be ordered here.
And a more decorative version in silk for female officers:

Bikers and Scarfs

2010-08-29T07:30:00.000+12:00

There is something about bikers that gets them to wear aesthetically attractive and practical gear; berets, for example, and neckerchiefs.

They vary from fashionable - carrying the brand name or picture of their bike or associative designs to practical (protective, warm, guard for dust, mossies and other flying objects). Anyone who had the pleasure of a fly flying into his/her mouth at 120 km/h knows what I mean.
Personally, i quite like this silk Harley Davidson scarf.

Scouting

2010-08-26T07:30:00.001+12:00

A variety of Japanese Scouts Scarfs (or Neckers)

The Scouting movement makes the neckerchief part of its uniform. A generally ceremonial item, the neckerchief is taught to be a practical wilderness item in the Scouting tradition. The neckerchief, unrolled, is designed to be the perfect size for use as a triangular bandage for first aid.

In most countries each Scout Troop uses its own colour neckerchief. The colours are usually the "Troop Colours" which may have a particular historical significance to the troop or to the local community.

In Canada, while most groups use colour neckerchiefs, there is also an optional alternate universal pattern tartan neckerchief: white plaid on red for Scouts, gold plaid on dark green for Cubs. Alternating thick and thin lines of the plaid spell out "CANADA" in Morse code.

Slide (or toggle) with room for "survival materials"

In other countries individual patrols are identifiable by their neckerchiefs and so troops may have many different neckerchiefs all at once. In both of these cases the neckerchief and its colours are an issue of identity, and become emblematic of a troop or a patrol.In Australia, Queensland uses a single maroon scarf for the whole state, while the other states allow groups, Venturer Units and Rover Crews to choose their own scarf. Region and Branch Teams also have their own scarves.

Neckerchiefs can also have important ceremonial functions in Scouting, for example, the 1st Gilwell Scout Group present a special neckerchief on completion of the Wood Badge.

The National Bolshevik Party

2010-08-23T07:30:00.000+12:00

The National Bolshevik Party (NBP, Russian: Национал-большевистская партия, НБП, also known as Nazbol) is a Russian political party dedicated to the ideology of National Bolshevism. The NBP is a prominent member of The Other Russia coalition of opposition parties. There are also smaller NBP groups in other countries.

In Russia, the organization has been banned, and has never been officially registered as political party. Since being banned, it has seen somewhat of a decline in membership. The NBP's preferred political activity has consisted of direct action stunts, mostly against prominent political figures.

The organization's official organ is the journal Limonka (Лимонка). The name is a play of words on Limonov and is idiomatic Russian for grenade. It was forced to change its name after the authorities banned it for "promoting extremism and hatred".

As their name suggests, the party stands for a mix of National Socialist and Bolshevik politics, clearly emphasized by the Nazi inspired sleeve-band and logo. The party seems to be dominated by schoolchildren and young girls with lots of piercings and neckerchiefs worn in a variety of ways, judging by the photos on the party's web site.

The National Bolshevik Party advocates the creation of a Russian-dominated empire that would include all of Europe, as well as northern and central Asia. The party is vehemently opposed to American foreign policy, and believes that a Eurasian empire would be an essential counterbalance to capitalist global domination. However, when Aleksandr Dugin left the NBP to create his own party called Eurasia, the NBP lessened the emphasis on a geo-political agenda in favor of a national one, concentrating on the defence of Russian minorities in the former Soviet Union republics, and on opposition to the political regime in Russia.

The party has replaced its aggressive Eurasianist and imperialist nationalism with a Russian territorial nationalism. It has criticized Lithuania and Estonia for degrading Russian-Soviet World War II veterans and memorials, and for legislation that banned Soviet symbols such as the hammer and sickle and the red star, which placed them on par with the swastika and other Nazi imagery.

Eduard Limonov at an NBP rally

Italian Fascists

2010-08-20T07:30:00.000+12:00

Not the prettiest part of neckerchiefs & bandanas, I know, but still part of the neckerchief-history. Better to get it over and done with: Fascist Youth of Italy, this time.

Researching on their uniforms, I find it hard to see any consistency: blue, green and black neckerchiefs appear on different pictures (if any of you can shed a light on this, please comment!).

What I do find consistent, is the kind of innocence of the children portrayed; probably not on purpose, but hopefully for many children it was, innocence.

Nazi's too...

2010-08-17T07:30:00.000+12:00

Bund Deutschen Madel jacket from the Rhineland section of Germany

Unfortunately, not only the righteous on the political spectrum chose to wear neckerchiefs. The red and red/black neckerchief may have been one of the symbols of the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War, at the same time the Italian fascists and German Nazi's adopted their own scarfs as part of their uniforms.

The Hitler Jugend wore black neckerchiefs; the boys this rough cotton version, while the girls of the Bund Deutscher Madel had the ultra-soft velvet-like doeskin version.

Hitler Jugend Tunic With Neck Scarf, Whistle, and Streifendienst Sleeve-band

Interesting that many present-day anarchists, often finding their inspiration in the punk movement of the 1980's, choose to wear a solid black neckerchief as well...

Anarchist Black and Red Scarf - For Sale

2010-08-16T13:55:00.000+12:00

Large size triangular scarf / neckerchief in Black and Red

100% Cotton

Dimensions: 115cm (45") x 81cm (32")

More on Anarchist Neckerchiefs

2010-08-14T07:30:00.000+12:00

Various schools within the anarchist movement have adopted their own flags, colours and neckerchiefs. These flags are bisected diagonally with the right half in black for anarchy and the left half in a color representing each school's ideas. These color templates are also extended to five-pointed stars representing the same schools.
The red-and-black flag is the symbol of the anarcho-syndicalist and anarcho-communist movements. Black is the traditional color of anarchism, and red is the traditional color of socialism. The red-and-black flag combines the two colors in equal parts, with a simple diagonal split. Typically, the red section is placed on the top-left corner, with the black on the bottom-right corner of the flag. This symbolizes the co-existence of anarchist and socialist ideals within the anarcho-syndicalism movement, and to symbolize the more socialistic means of the movement leading to a more anarchistic end.

The black-and-yellow or black-and-gold flag is used by anarcho-capitalists and other market anarchists. The yellow is intended to symbolise gold, a commodity of exchange often used in marketplaces unrestricted by state intervention. The flag was first used in public in Colorado in 1963 at an event organised by Robert LeFevre.

The black-and-green flag is used by green anarchists and anarcho-primitivists. It is generally taken to symbolize a vision of anarchism that focuses on the self-determination of all forms of life (animals, humans, bioregions) and not just humans, hence the green.

The black-and-purple flag is used in association with anarcha-feminism, as is the black-and-pink flag, although the latter is more closely associated with queer anarchists. Unlike other bisected anarchist flags, it does not necessarily represent another form of anarchism, but is used to focus on opposition to the hierarchical patterns of heterosexism, sexism, transphobia, and patriarchy.

The black-and-white flag is used by anarcho-pacifists and, to a lesser extent, Christian anarchists.

Exerpt from: 'No Gods, No Masters: An Anthology of Anarchism

2010-08-11T07:30:00.000+12:00

No Gods, No Masters: An Anthology of Anarchism

An excerpt from Daniel Guérin's anthology of anarchism:

In some textile plants, red and black silk neckerchiefs were produced, overprinted with anti-fascist slogans. These neckerchiefs were put on sale. "How did you come to set the price? How did you work out the profit margin?" asked one foreign, Marxist reporter. "I don't know anything about profit margin," answered the worker to whom these questions had been put. "We looked up the raw material cost in books, worked out running costs, added on a supplement by way of reserve funds, tacked on wage costs, added on a 10% supplement for the Anarchist Militia Committee and the price was set." The neckerchiefs were sold cheaper than they would have been under the old regime. Wages had been increased and the profit margin sacrosanct in bourgeois economics- was put towards the fight against fascism.

Pablo Picasso’s Peace Dove Scarf - more than a neckerchief...

2010-08-08T07:30:00.000+12:00

Pablo Picasso’s Peace Dove Scarf - commemorates the World Festival of Youth and Students for Peace, which took place in Berlin, in August 1951.

The twentieth century became a battleground of political imagery, one in which strongarm regimes and supposedly egalitarian allies alike learnt the potential of aesthetics to influence (if not change) opinions. In the wake of Soviet political posters and the propagandist art of the Nazis, artists such as John Heartfield (the German artist who anglicised his name in protest against anti-English sentiment) and Pablo Picasso began to lob back the odd intellectual grenade, hoping to explode the myths of ‘victory at any cost’ being espoused by both warring sides. First, Picasso depicted the human suffering of war in his legendary composition of dismembered figures, ‘Guernica’, which was painted over a couple of months in 1937 when he was supposed to be in London giving a lecture at the Royal Albert Hall. When asked by a Nazi officer, ‘Did you do that?’ of his famous picture, Picasso replied, ‘No, you did.’ Not long after, the artist was marked out as a left-wing radical, even though his depiction of a white dove – initially used in advertisements for huge socialist rallies – was widely adopted as a new symbol of peace.

As well as earning the dubious honours of round-the-clock FBI surveillance (suspect number 100-337396) and becoming the world’s most famous communist after Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong, Picasso was on the receiving end of rival, CIA-funded poster campaigns showing his peacenik dove being variously syringed by black market medicines, used to disguise an enemy tank or kept on a leash by Stalin. Examples of these posters are included in the V&A’s current blockbuster exhibition tackling the subject, ‘Cold War Modern’.

Undies. Knickers, Briefs and Bikinis

2010-08-05T07:30:00.000+12:00

There are many more attractive ways to wear your bandana than half hidden under a shirt's collar.

Creative souls and the industry have both found many uses for bandanas to cover the body's more sensitive parts; male and female, functional or attractive, lust and thought provoking or just for a laugh.

Maria Silva Cruz, "La Libertaria"

2010-08-02T07:30:00.000+12:00

A short biography of the iconic figure of Maria Silva Cruz, "La Libertaria," heroine of the Casas Viejas uprising, murdered by the Francoists.

Maria was born into a family of day labourers and charcoal burners in the impoverished village of Casas Viejas in Andalucia on 20 April 1915.

Her father Juan Silva Gonzalez and her uncle Jeronimo were in the CNT. Her grandmother read anarchist novels out loud to her as a young girl.

Antonio Cabanas Salvador - Gallinito – was a member of the Libertarian Youth in Casas Viejas. He was 27 in 1932, raised partly in Cadiz where he had come in contact with the anarchist movement. He taught the ideas of anarchism to a group of ten young women in Casas Viejas in 1932. He went out with Maria. She earned her nickname La Libertaria because of her red and black neckerchief. This shocked the Guardia Civil sergeant in the village who ordered her to take it off. She refused, upon which he tore it off. This did not intimidate the young women, which included her sister Catalina, her first cousin Catalina and her close friend Manolita Lago. By the end of the year they had organised a group called Amor y Armonia (Love and Harmony).

During the insurrection in Casas Viejas in 1933 (which is eloquently documented in The Anarchists of Casas Viejas by Jerome Mintz) she with Manuel Lago and Gallinito paraded the red and black flag through the town, singing revolutionary songs. Libertarian communism was proclaimed in the village. When the Guardia Civil surrounded her family’s house and killed her grandfather, “Seisdedos” (Six Fingers), setting fire to the house, she ran out, her clothes and hair ablaze, with one of her neighbour’s children shouting “Don’t shoot! It’s a boy”. She fled to her mother’s house. She was arrested on January 14th, 1933. She was imprisoned for two weeks at Medina Sidonia. She was arrested again at Medina and then transferred to Cadiz where she remained for a month.

There was massive public outrage over how the authorities had brutally crushed a rebellion of poorly armed peasants and had then shot many in cold blood. Maria was released with other anarchist prisoners.

Her mother went to Cadiz and Maria went with her. The anarchist militant Miguel Perez Cordon began to court her and after 2 months they went to Madrid to live in free union (Miguel edited the magazine CNT there). They had a son in early May 1935. Later they both returned to Andalusia. In July 1936, the couple was living in Ronda. When the fascists occupied the area Cordon took refuge in the mountains. Maria stayed at home with her son, who was a few months old. The Guardia Civil arrested her, snatching her son violently from her arms. She was shot at dawn on 23 August 1936 with two others

Miguel Perez Cordon was shot by the Francoists on the last day of the Civil War at Cartagena on 5th March 1939. Gallinito fell fighting in an anarchist militia column.

The son of Maria and Miguel is fighting for her remains to be exhumed and recognized.

2010-07-30T07:30:00.000+12:00

Bandanas have been popular with lots of users over the decades, or centuries.

One group of wholesale users were the American cowboys (quite different from the South American Gauchos, but more on them later...).

The bandana started as a cheap means of protection against dust while riding the prairies, following cattle creating a nightmare for asthmatics.

Over time, it proved an excellent means too for bank robbers and other outlaws, a practice later adopted by gangs and bikers clubs.

2010-07-27T07:30:00.000+12:00

Rockabilly style and bandanas go hand in hand. This is because the rockabilly style is tied in with “greasers.” Mechanics would stuff bandanas in their pocket to clean off their hands with after working on oily cars. The bandana as a headpiece is a symbol of classic 1930s-1960s mid-century Americana. This guide offers two bandana folding methods that are commonly seen in the rockabilly style. The head wrap option works great for ladies' hairdos that feature a pompadour or Bettie Page-style bangs. The second option is a more unisex option, though it is more commonly seen in men.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Step 1
Fold the bandana diagonally in half.
Step 2
From the fold, fold the bandana over approximately 2 1/2 inches.
Step 3
Fold the bandana over again, an equal amount.
Step 4
Hold the bandana by the ends and pull the bandana to the underside of your head.
Step 5
Tie the ends together on the top of your hair in a standard square knot.

For a pocket square

Step 1
Fold the bandana diagonally in half.
Step 2
Fold it vertically in half, matching your edges together.
Step 3
Fold it again vertically and repeat until the bandana is a pocket-sized triangle.
Step 4
Slip it into your back pocket, exposing the bandana so it's easy to grab.

Amarcord

2010-07-24T07:30:00.000+12:00

Amarcord is a 1973 Italian drama film directed by Federico Fellini, a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age tale that combines poignancy with bawdy comedy. It tells the story of a wild cast of characters inhabiting the fictional Borgo based on Fellini's hometown of Rimini in 1930s Fascist Italy. Amarcord is Romagnolo for "I remember".

Titta's sentimental education is emblematic of Italy's "lapse of conscience". Fellini skewers Mussolini's ludicrous posturings and those of a Catholic Church that "imprisoned Italians in a perpetual adolescence" by mocking himself and his fellow villagers in comic scenes that underline their incapacity to adopt genuine moral responsibility or outgrow foolish sexual fantasies.

The film won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Director and Best Writing, Original Screenplay.

There are numerous beautiful lines in the script (as above), or these for the neckerchief part:

Don't try to be a wise guy! Answer!

   They woke me from my sleep. I didn't even have time to put my tie on.
   Your tie or your anarchist's neckerchief? -What neckerchief?
   Would you like to drink a toast to the victory of Fascism?
   Well, really at this time...

The neckerchief of Spanish anarchists

Or this poem "Bricks", by 'Mortar', an old brick-maker:
My grandfather made bricks
My father made bricks
I make bricks, too,
but where’s my house?

Bandanas and Jeans

2010-07-21T15:30:00.000+12:00

Jeans and bandanas have always formed a great combination; whether worn by workers or hippies, cowboys and rangers or street-gangs - blue denim and red bandanas do well together.

But, as so often, the industry follows individuals when there is a buck to make; Levi's and Lee produce their own bandanas these days:

Some History, the Bandana as a Worker's Necktie

2010-07-18T07:30:00.000+12:00

For working-class Europeans, the bandana provided a mark of masculine respectability at an affordable price. Of brightly coloured and robust material, the bandana did not easily show the dirt, and was quite washable when it did. In addition, the material could be used to form a basket, lead an animal, or mop the sweat from a working brow when not being used to project the owner's dignity.

Prohibited in England by the Calico Acts of 1700 and 1702, the lowly bandana even acquired something of the cachet of the forbidden, as well as another name - "the Kingsman" for the King's man or customs officer who would normally seize the forbidden cloth.

Soon, however, European industrialists began to cash in on the craze, and knock-offs of the Bengali silk prints were being manufactured at home. Over the water, in North America, the cotton bandana became an extremely popular and affordable common-sense form of neckwear for those colonists who could not wholly abandon the urbane fashions of the Old Countries.

As interest in the bandana necktie became ever more general, the time-worn urge of a certain power elite to distinguish themselves from common men soon provoked the flourishing of yet another style of neckwear: the Incroyable neckcloth. Partisan politics were again at the root of fashion, and the Incroyables - literally the Unbelievables - were a dandy group of young French nonconformists who expressed sympathy with Republican ideals by revolutionary sartorial excesses.

They wore strange cravats of an almost inconceivable size: "The shirt collar rose to the sides of the ears, and the top of the cravat covered the mouth and the lower part of the nose, so that the face (with the exception of the nose) was concealed by the cravat and a forest of whiskers; these rose on each side of the hair, which was combed down over the eyes. In this costume, the elegans bore a greater resemblance to beasts then men, and the fashion gave rise to many laughable caricatures. They were compelled to look straight before them, as the head could only be turned by the general consent of all the members, and the tout ensemble was that of an unfinished statue." Royalists countered the excesses of the Incroyables with more sober green neckcloths, which in turn prompted even more extravagance on the part of the Republicans: two sheets of muslin, one white and one black, wrapped around the neck, chin, and face, finished with floppy bows drooped across the shoulders.

Despite the pretensions of the French Incroyables and their affected imitators, it was gradually the lowly bandanna that solidified its position as the neckwear of choice with the fashionable men about town. Instrumental in the establishment of this relatively sober, practical, and easy-to-tie neckcloth was the most famous pugilist of the early 19th century: Jem Belcher. Belcher, of humble origins, nearly always appeared with a blue silk peacock-eyed bandanna, knotted suavely about the neck. Anxious to associate their own male prowess with the cock of the walk, fashionable young bucks and bloods of the day took to wearing the Belcher neckcloth with almost monotonous rigidity.

Yes, Bandanas!

2010-07-15T07:30:00.000+12:00

Does a square piece of cotton, 55 x 55 centimeters, justify a web-site, a multiple weekly updated blog?

There are many more important issues pressing for attention, I know. We haven’t solved the hunger problem in the world, there is global warming, abuse of women, children, homosexuals, ethnic minorities, animals; there is overwhelming greed, ego’s that badly get into other people’s ways, but still, I believe there is room for attention for something so humble, so unobtrusive, as this piece of dyed material.
Alas, a quick search through on-line dictionaries shows another picture of the bandana: a weapon, whip, gang affiliations…

A kerchief (from the French couvre-chef, “cover the head”) is a triangular or square piece of cloth tied around the head or around the neck for protective or decorative purposes. A “handkerchief” primarily refers to a napkin made of cloth, used to maintain personal hygiene. A bandanna or bandana (from Hindi: बन्धन bandhana, “to tie”) is a type of large, usually colorful, kerchief, usually worn on the head. Bandannas are frequently printed in a paisley pattern.
Certain colors of kerchiefs are associated with gangs making it potentially dangerous to wear different types of them in certain areas. For example, in Los Angeles, California, a red kerchief is associated with Bloods and a blue one is associated with Crips or Sureños. In certain cities such as Richmond, Virginia, non-violent bicycle clubs such as The Loners may wear black and white bandannas to show their association.
A bandana can also be used as a gag and has been used in western movies and in BDSM movies to prevent a person from speaking. The person being gagged is almost always tied up in some way and the bandana is tied so its in the persons mouth or around over the mouth.

Or, from the Urban Dictionary:
A rag that can be worn in different styles on your head,mouth area and neck.Popular with street gangs,most of them wear a bandana with the tie to the front,or around there mouths.Bandanas are restricted in schools because it is a sign for gangs,and can be used as a weapon(strangle holding,and whipping).
Personally, I just prefer to tie the bandana loosely around my neck, cowboy-style, but then, I do appreciate the very creative applications some people have come up with: