Irish Kilt?

[Mike_Oettle]

Another most interesting picture.
Mind you, I find the contrast between the kilts and caubeens of the pipers and the bearskins and trousers of the drummers to be a bit weird.
I would never want to dictate to the Irish Guards pipers about what they wear, but personal experience has taught me the value of wearing a sporran
Regards,
Mike

[kiltbook]

I would never want to dictate to the Irish Guards pipers about what they wear, but personal experience has taught me the value of wearing a sporran
Regards,
Mike

I know it may seem strange to many Scots, but many Irish communities around the world regard the wearing of a sporran as a Scottish custom. Civilian Irish attire has never been the same as that worn by bagpipers or members of the Irish military, where sporrans are sometimes used.

Pockets in other clothing worn with the kilt is normally used to hold keys, cell phones, etc. For instance, some men prefer to wear a security, pilot, or military shirt when kilted and the pockets in these shirts hold essential items. On more formal occasions a vest is customary, and all essential items are placed in the pockets of the vest.

Scots customs are more prevalant in some communities where sporrans, Irish tartans, and kilt jackets are normative.

I'm sorry if I offended anyone with the statement I made about sporrans. This is what I was taught by my community.

[jfraser]

I know it may seem strange to many Scots, but many Irish communities around the world regard the wearing of a sporran as a Scottish custom.

I have lived in four different countries, Ireland included, and I would say that many Irish communities regard the kilt as a Scottish custom.

[Joe I]

Anceint egyptians had kilts before the Scots

[Chas]

Anceint egyptians had kilts before the Scots

Just because the 'shendyt' wraps around the body does NOT make it a kilt.

Regards

Chas

[pugcasso]

All I know is that there are quite a number of nice Irish county tartans ... they are no doubt of rather recent invention but many of them look fabulous

Also I think I read that saffron colour cloth would be more yellow than the modern kilt colour but I like the modern saffron kilt (would be nice to get a kilt like that someday to represent my father's side more).

[O'Callaghan]

All I know is that there are quite a number of nice Irish county tartans ... they are no doubt of rather recent invention but many of them look fabulous

Also I think I read that saffron colour cloth would be more yellow than the modern kilt colour but I like the modern saffron kilt (would be nice to get a kilt like that someday to represent my father's side more).

There's a very simple explanation for the difference in saffron colour. As a plant dye, it does not produce the same colour on different fabrics, and the Irish leine was made of linen, which has notoriously poor dye takeup. So saffron + linen = yellow, and saffron + wool = brownish orangey colour (which actually has a name, it's called 'ruggy' [spelling?]). Of course, modern kilts are dyed with synthetic dyes, not saffron, and cheap ones are not even made of wool, but they approximate the colour of wool dyed with saffron, and if you see someone dressed in a leine to represent the ancient Irish it will be yellow, although it's not dyed with real saffron either, although hopefully it will be linen.

As for Irish tartans, they are all fairly recent, virtually all being 1960s or later, with just a few exceptions for certain family names (not Callaghan, which only dates to 2007!). County tartans only date back to the 1990s, although there are two for every county, as two separate mills invented their own ones. Marton Mills claim that theirs are based upon the colours taken from county crests, while House of Edgar don't try to explain where theirs come from.

My ancestors being from Cork, I have researched this and can say that (officially at least) only Cork City has a crest, not County Cork, and it has NO set colour scheme atall! However, the GAA, which regulates Gaelic Football and Hurling, has a pennant and a crest for each county, and for County Cork the GAA pennant is red and white, whilst the GAA crest is the Cork CITY crest portrayed in red, blue, green and yellow, which just happen to be the colours of the House of Edgar tartan for County Cork, which doesn't claim to be based upon a county crest. So where do Marton Mills get their colour scheme from? AFAIK it is taken from the version of the Cork City crest on the shirts of the Cork City Football Club (soccer)!

I don't know what you will find if you research the other counties, but you may expect to find similarly quixotic origins, if any, for the colours of the other county tartans.

[pugcasso]

It doesn't look pleated in the back ... I would think this should be a key defining variable in what makes a kilt...

It's *wrap* which is the family the kilt is also of.

Tons of peoples around the world had (and still have) knee-length (or a bit less or even more ... but knee-length and less implies ability to be unencumbered in mobility) wraps for men as the norm for most of human history (probably starting with some animal skin tied at the waist). I feel it is really neat walking around today wearing a clothing based on this ancient primary simple form of clothing idea .

[Joe I]

It doesn't look pleated in the back ... I would think this should be a key defining variable in what makes a kilt...

It's *wrap* which is the family the kilt is also of.

Tons of peoples around the world had (and still have) knee-length (or a bit less or even more ... but knee-length and less implies ability to be unencumbered in mobility) wraps for men as the norm for most of human history (probably starting with some animal skin tied at the waist). I feel it is really neat walking around today wearing a clothing based on this ancient primary simple form of clothing idea .

My point is Kilt like clothing being old than pants, let us all claim them!

[Friday]

It doesn't look pleated in the back ... I would think this should be a key defining variable in what makes a kilt...

It's *wrap* which is the family the kilt is also of.

I wish I could find the on-line article that said that a wrap like garment was on of the most used garments until horses became the frequent mode of transportation. I seemed that when on hose back these wrap like garments allowed to ride to be rubbed the wrong way.