regarding the braid/pony tail thing......

Was this a personal thing that Qui-Gon passed down to Obi-Wan who in turn passed down to Anakin? Or was this something that ALL Jedi are required to have?

The reason I ask is it dosen't seem to make sense to require human Jedi to have that specific hair cut when you have alien Jedi who don't even have hair.

Did Lucas ever really explain the significance of that?

 

I think it's something that all human Padawans have. Alien species may have something totally different that they do.

 

The braid/ponytail thing is to show the progress of a padawan's training. The longer his braid his, the more training he has had. I'm sure aliens without hair have othr ways of showing their training progress.

 

Yes, I agree with YodaJeff and ST.

But I never thought about the more alien Padawan learners. Hmm, I wonder what they have to show for their progress.

 

Hmm...does it depend on their gender?

 

oh! That's a nice little symbol. Hair growth is the best way to show the passage of time. So rather than letting their hair grow long they only leave one small section preserved. I like that. Now I appreciate the rat-tail.