The women, once they marry, never show their real hair again in public. They wear wigs, often over a shaved head, or they wear hats that cover every hair on their head.

 

I checked to see whether these parts of the series were accurate. Yep. 

 

I have long had an interest in the different forms that religions take. My interest started when I was a child reading about the Greek and Roman gods. It never occurred to me back then that real people once believed strongly in Zeus and Athena, Mars and Cupid. I would not be surprised if a few modern Greeks and Romans still make offerings to those gods.

 

Growing up, I mostly learned about my own religion, Roman Catholicism. Like most children, I inherited my religion from my parents. I became an altar boy — I rang the church bell and I said prayers aloud in Latin during mass. I felt important. I liked the black-and-white cassock I wore; I never understood the prayers I spoke in Latin.

 

Much later I stumbled into reading about other religions, starting with the ones that most fascinated me. The Old Order Amish, with their horse-drawn wagons, try to live as their people did 200 years ago. Hasidic Jews try to accomplish something similar ​with their remarkable hats and so on.

 

The more unusual the religion to me, the more interesting I found it. In law school I had a classmate who was a Christian Scientist. He told me that the religion believes in healing only by faith — no medical treatment, no vitamins, no vaccinations.

 

Much later I met a nice family of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Their most surprising belief: A person must not accept a blood transfusion from another.  

 

Don’t start me talking about Scientology. I would go on and on.