Twenty years ago I was attending Salt Lake City's "Living Traditions" festival. A three day event where all the ethnicity of the area come to share their culture with the community. A local pipe band was playing on stage with about 50 kilted standing around listening. A man approached me and in a Scottish brogue said to me, "I work for 3M and am here for a conference. I left me hotel for a walk and heard bagpipes playing. I though it was the high alltiude gettin' to me. So I followed the sound and here I find you all. Had I noon I'd a brought me kilt."

His name was John Bowie, chairman of the Fifeshire Games in Scotland. He went on to tell me of the sad state of Scottish culture where he lived. Nobody wore the kilt anymore. The media ragged on anything to do with tartan, clans, bagpipes, & ancient history. Society didn't want to recognize these things, but to let the world know that Scotland was an upward and mobile country. That Edinburgh was the Silicone Valley of Europe. He ended saying, "God bless ye Yanks! I can see that perhaps my culture might expire where I live, but it will continue elsewhere."

Now having the view given by the Highland Scots in previous blogs on how they see things, and the view of Lowlanders who live abroad and how they view things, and then there's we Americans of Scottish descent who want their society to know that they are of Scot descent and proud of it.

Whether the kilt is worn only for special occasions, or on weekends to the pub/church/restaurant, or every day. The kilt continues to evolve!