The Probert Encyclopaedia of General Information

TONSURE

Tonsure is the religious practice of having the head shaved before entering the priesthood or becoming a monk. Until 1973 in the Roman Catholic Church, the crown was shaved (leaving a surrounding fringe to resemble Jesus' crown of thorns); in the Eastern Orthodox Church the hair is merely shorn close. For Buddhist monks, the entire head is shaved except for a topknot.
Research Tonsure