First time seeing a kilt.

[TheOfficialBren]

The first time...Probably a parade. My family is passive about traditions. They are aware of their Gaelic roots but don't celebrate them.

I remember seeing kilts in that Mel Gibson film (I was a child when it came out) but surely before then. My pipes teacher when I was 12 or 13 or so obviously wore the kilt. I was taking piping lessons so obviously I was aware of kilts then.

Dad and Grandpa never wore them. I saw a photo of a distant relative kilted. Maybe that was it?

Great thread!
:thumbs up:

[auld argonian]

Years ago…I was probably about five years old so that would make it about 1956 or 1957. I used to live two blocks away from the International Amphitheater which was a large complex here in Chicago that had halls of exhibition space and, as the name suggests, a huge central arena that was used for everything from Ringling Brothers Circus to the early Chicago Bulls games to Professional Wrestling (back when it was GOOD)….the Beatles played there and the Chicago Auto Show used to fill it up every April.

One of the great events was the annual Stock Show…a holdover from the days when the Union Stockyards were in their prime. Great for me as a kid brought up in the city because I got up close with all manner of livestock….loved it and can still smell it. They would have the final judging in the arena and they'd throw in a little entertainment to flesh the program out…got to see several of my TV cowboy idols like Duncan Renaldo and Leo Carillo, Roy and Dale and, of all people, Arthur Godfrey, who was actually a serious horse guy and had a golden palomino named….wait for it….Goldie…okay, ol' Arthur didn't have much imagination. Toss in some bull riding, calf roping, bronco busting…hell, it was a rodeo mostly.

Now imagine that they turn all of the lights off in this cavern of an amphitheater and everybody quiets down….and in the dark you hear the drums start and the pipes strike up and the sound is echoing and overwhelming and a whole team of union electricians open up with carbon arc spotlights and you see the Stock Yards Kilty Band's Drum Major wearing the Buchanan Tartan in full glory with a huge bearskin hat lit up like something out of freakin' Star Wars marching into the arena with followed by a color guard and what seemed like an endless stream of pipers and drummers. The chills was tangible. OMG! They did their program and marched out to Scotland The Brave and I had never seen anything remotely like it in my young life.

….and that, guys, was the first time I ever saw kilts.

Best,

AA

[Macman]

Too far back, in the mists of time ... Probably at a Remembrance Day, or parade?

Me too. It would have been my parents taking me to Remembrance Day ceremonies or the annual Victoria Day parade. The local army reserve regiment would have been marching with their pipes and drums.

[Sir Didymous]

You people actually have a Star Wars day? That's sad!

It's not [I]that[I] sad. It is an unofficial kind of thing. It's based on a pun "May the fourth be with you." It may not be high culture, but it helps some of us nerds out there make it through.

[jhockin]

And also...



I hope nobody takes the bait.

( it is very tempting ... But I'll restrain me self .. Just this once)

[MacKenzie]

I've no idea.

My father was listening to albums of The Pipes and Drums of the Royal Scots Dragoon as far back as I can remember.

[kiltedrennie]

I think it was when I was 16. My girlfriend and I were at a muzzle firing competition and there was a bagpiper giving a demonstration. Heard him loud and clear over the musket fire.

As for dressing up as "Scotty", I just finished making a red dress uniform jacket with the same awards as seen on the original series. I don't have the same tartan he wore, but my McQueen goes well with the red jacket. Motor City ComicCon here I come...

[O'Callaghan]

No idea, but the first time I saw anyone that I knew wearing one was probably when we went to the highland games with my uncle, when they lived near Glasgow. No idea what sett he wore, but I would guess it was a weathered one. What stands out more in my mind is the hip flask that he took to watch the games. I'd certainly never seen a hip flask before, LOL!

[KSmedic]

Not real sure about which was the first kilt I saw. It was either in one of my dad's history books (He was a teacher.), or the Bugs Bunny cartoon where he wound up in Scotland.

[OC Richard]

I'm envious of all you Canadians and British who grew up with kilts being all around.

Like many Americans, my first sight of the kilt was in some old movie or other. I remember seeing Tunes Of Glory on TV as a kid and really liking it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FEU6me0bWI

And The Devil's Brigade, the famous scene with the spit-and-polish Canadian Scots arriving. (Look for Richard Dawson of Hogan's Heroes fame as one of the pipers.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1awwAgU_t8

The other one that sticks in my mind is The Buccaneers, the one about Highlanders being bloodily repulsed by American sharpshooters behind barricades outside of New Orleans. (I later learned that the 93rd Highlanders actually wore trousers in that campaign!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsneqE4EJkU
Boy all the historical inaccuracies in that one...

Now the first time I saw a kilt in person is a different matter! It was in High School, when we had some kind of International Culture Day. I was very interested in learning the pipes at this time, but didn't know anything about them, didn't know anyone around played them, had never seen them in person. So I was amazed when a kid that went to our school showed up in kilts playing the pipes! (The very stereotype, pink skin, freckles, red hair.)

He helped me get started on the road to piping, though he graduated and left for the military before I had got very far.