From https://git-scm.com/docs/git-checkout/1.7.3.1
--orphan Create a new orphan branch, named <\new_branch>, started from <start_point> and switch to it. The first commit made on this new branch will have no parents and it will be the root of a new history totally disconnected from all the other branches and commits.
The index and the working tree are adjusted as if you had previously run "git checkout <start_point>". This allows you to start a new history that records a set of paths similar to <start_point> by easily running "git commit -a" to make the root commit.
This can be useful when you want to publish the tree from a commit without exposing its full history. You might want to do this to publish an open source branch of a project whose current tree is "clean", but whose full history contains proprietary or otherwise encumbered bits of code.
If you want to start a disconnected history that records a set of paths that is totally different from the one of <start_point>, then you should clear the index and the working tree right after creating the orphan branch by running "git rm -rf ." from the top level of the working tree. Afterwards you will be ready to prepare your new files, repopulating the working tree, by copying them from elsewhere, extracting a tarball, etc.