Irish Kilt?

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Xmarks is a friendly place and folks of all nations and walks of life get help with tartan selection. It is only the Irish that are reminded every so often the kilt is the national dress of Scotland and not Ireland. When one side in a discussion holds the high ground and routinely gets the last word it can become annoying regardless of who is right.

In fairness, I think this is simply because there is more confusion on the matter where the Irish are concerned. When a person of German heritage, or Finnish nationality, or who is from Galicia wants to wear the German Heritage, Finnish National, or Galician tartans, the assumption generally is "I want to wear the kilt. I know the kilt is Scottish, but I am not Scottish, I am _____. So I am wearing this tartan to reflect my own ethnic heritage, while I am in Scottish dress." Whereas many people who wear Irish tartans begin with the assumption, "I am Irish, so I want to wear a kilt to honor my Irish heritage."

Very few people have the experience of walking down the streets of an American city in their kilt and being asked, "Are you Swiss?" or "You must be Dutch!"

But how many of us have lost count of the number of times we have been asked, "Are you Irish?" when wearing the kilt?

Also, unlike many of the other countries you mention, the kilt actually does have place in Irish history, although a somewhat smaller one than many people assume.

All of this adds up to mean that we have more opportunities to talk about the history of "the Irish kilt" than we do about kilt wearing in any of these other countries. So why shouldn't the topic come up with semi-regularity?