Wearing kilts of other tartans than your clans.

[Jock Scot]

English Bloke.

What I was trying to say, was that in the highlands and in the highlanders minds, due to our upbringing, we think about tartans and more importantly the clan in a fairly singular way. I was trying to get the "rest of the world" to understand how I(we), in the land and home of the kilt view things. I hoped and I think I may have succeeded in a small way in getting that message across, to some. The Highland Scots cannot make anyone see our point of view and most certainly I(we) cannot make people only wear one tartan, all I(we) can do is try to educate others to bear our point of view in mind. Besides, we are far too polite to take visitors to task anyway,so worry not!

Wear your MacLeod tartan kilt by all means(have a look at JS's pictures in "his threads"!),all I (we) am asking for, is for people to be aware of the highland way of doing things and not made to feel,by some (not you by the way!), that it is rather an inconvenient fact that the kilt is highland Scots attire. It can get very tiresome, sometimes verging on arrogance, when a "foreigner" tries to tell us how to wear the the kilt and how we should or should not react to matters of kilt tradition and convention.Is all this, earth shatteringly important? Well, no it is not.

[herminator]

David, I really do think that you are so right in asking "the Clans" for permission to wear "their" tartan. It is a courtesy that I am sure is appreciated by them and I am delighted that they have been able to oblige you. Even these days, these small courtesies do matter and in my book, the age of courtesy is far from dead.

I tried!!
But -- no answer, even after repeated communications.
So I just wear Campbell without anyone´s approval.

[Jock Scot]

I tried!!
But -- no answer, even after repeated communications.
So I just wear Campbell without anyone´s approval.

Well you tried! You are on the moral high ground.

[Bugbear]

Sorry, Jock.

[BassClefB]

I for one have appreciated reading your insights, JS. I must say that if I am fortunate enough to set foot in Scotland in a year or two, the only kilt on my body will be my Lamont... for the very reasons you spoke of. The conventions are a little more 'loose' here in the States. Cheers to you for sharing the more widly-held Scottish viewpoints on the matter.

English Bloke.

What I was trying to say, was that in the highlands and in the highlanders minds, due to our upbringing, we think about tartans and more importantly the clan in a fairly singular way. I was trying to get the "rest of the world" to understand how I(we), in the land and home of the kilt view things. I hoped and I think I may have succeeded in a small way in getting that message across, to some. The Highland Scots cannot make anyone see our point of view and most certainly I(we) cannot make people only wear one tartan, all I(we) can do is try to educate others to bear our point of view in mind. Besides, we are far too polite to take visitors to task anyway,so worry not!

Wear your MacLeod tartan kilt by all means(have a look at JS's pictures in "his threads"!),all I (we) am asking for, is for people to be aware of the highland way of doing things and not made to feel,by some (not you by the way!), that it is rather an inconvenient fact that the kilt is highland Scots attire. It can get very tiresome, sometimes verging on arrogance, when a "foreigner" tries to tell us how to wear the the kilt and how we should or should not react to matters of kilt tradition and convention.Is all this, earth shatteringly important? Well, no it is not.

[sputtyduke]

If I like it, I wear it - regardless of what clan it is/I am. If I don't like it, I don't wear it - regardless.

What he said.

[Colonel MacNeal]

The fact that a tartan is registered with Scottish Tartan Authority has nothing whatsoever with its being "official" in any way. It merely means that the person who designed it took the trouble to register it.

What makes a tartan official is whether the governing authority of the entity it purports to represent has approved it. In the cases of clan tartans, that authority is the clan chief. In the cases of district tartans, that is the governing body of the country, state, shire, county, city, etc, of the district that that tartan purports to represent. In the cases of religious denominations that is the governing body of that denomination, and there is none for Judaism, as this tartan purports to represent. It is merely a fashion tartan designated as "Jewish" with an extremely recent provenance that is being marketing by some one who either has no sense of the history of Jewish tartan, or does and chooses to misrepresent it, as well as his tartan, to wit: "...it's 100% Kosher - being a non wool-linen mix..."

Has anyone ever heard of a linen blend tartan that the observant need to be protected from? I think not.

Perhaps it was a typo for "Golan". Same letters.

[Nighthawk]

Me personally, I stick to tartans of clans that I have some tie to. I wear the Black Stewart because my great grandfather and uncle (however many "greats" are required) were Jacobites. I wear the Colorado because I love my home. I wear a saffron because there are Leddy's and Kiltpatrick's in my family line. I will soon be getting a MacLeod of Harris because that's where my grandmother's side of the family is from. I have an Albannach because... well... I'm a huge fan of the band, and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I have a SWK Nightstalker because (A) I like it and ( B) it's not clan affiliated. So yes, when it comes to tartans, I stick to either blood ties or regional ties, or I get universal non clan tartans. It's not because I have a problem wearing other clan tartans, it just seems to my mind to be a matter of good etiquet.

[Nighthawk]

No, the traditional thing to do is to wear your clan tartan, or barring that, a district tartan.

The one thing that you're missing in this statement is that, while this is a tradition, it is a recent one. If you want to go with older traditions, the tradition is in fact to wear the one that you like best. You have to remember the whole point of tartan in the first place- it was used as camoflage- not fashion. I have a MacKenzie weathered because it makes great camoflage in the Rockies. One tradition doesn't trump another.

Oh, and Jock- what you said makes a lot of sense. I personally, like I said, only want one clan tartan- my own- but it was for a differerent reason. I now have a much better insight about the reason behind the tradition. So thank you.

[macwilkin]

The one thing that you're missing in this statement is that, while this is a tradition, it is a recent one. If you want to go with older traditions, the tradition is in fact to wear the one that you like best. You have to remember the whole point of tartan in the first place- it was used as camoflage- not fashion. I have a MacKenzie weathered because it makes great camoflage in the Rockies. One tradition doesn't trump another.

Actually, clan tartans were used as fashion first. Remember that the concept of clan tartans originated from weaving firms such as Wm. Wilson's of Bannockburn as a way to sell more tartans, and were adopted over time as symbols of clans, districts, etc.

Also, the idea of camoflage is a recent one -- in 18th century warfare, you didn't hide behind foliage, you stuck out as a form of psychological warfare. While the Government Sett appears to be a form of camoflage, look at the uniform it was worn with -- the famous red coat of the British Army. Or better yet, look at this famous painting of a Jacobite "Highland charge" at Culloden:

http://www.marariley.net/celtic/images/culloden.jpg

Not much camo there.

While it is true that the first tartans were "district" tartans in the sense that one wore whatever was produced in your area, the camoflage analogy doesn't really "fly" to me.

Regards,

Todd