Attitudes To The Kilt.

[Mac Coinneach]

Great post, James. A couple of comments:

Allied to this is certain thinking about how the kilt should be worn and what with, depending on the time of day and activity. This in turn means that some items put forward by tailors and kilt rental firms for weddings and such like-would be a certain no-no for a serious clan/highland event. Just as would be the idea of wearing any tartan that takes one's fancy.

I think the only people that are all that concerned with "how a kilt should be worn" are the kilt sellers. The idea of selling two rigs because of the time of day you happen to be wearing your kilt must work wonders for the year-end figures.

Though I have heard a clansman who took the wrong advice being told to go away and as he was dressed like a little girl dancer go and join them!

Funny, I was just trying to explain that kilts in the "dress" tartans weren't what would normally be associated with a man. Even though it's true, it wasn't well-received - I'm guessing there's some gents here that got saddled with a dress tartan kilt.

To illustrate this I mentioned this website to a fellow kilt wearer-and he after looking at it went ballistic as a result of some of the opinions and ideas he read.

Why am I not surprised.

You're right about the feelings towards traditions, James. I suspect that traditions hold a more important place in the hearts of the highlander, especially with the history of conflict and subjugation. Here in the States, traditions are generally not held as dear, probably because we are such a young country compared to those in Europe and we have such a diverse population. Not that we don't have traditions, it's just that are exposed to so many, we tend to adopt new traditions and lose old ones much faster.

Let's try and remember here that we're talking about a Scottish garment, so the country of origin would (rightly) be where we look to for the tradition. You don't "adopt new traditions", you water down the true traditions and then suggest that the new way is the correct way. I'm not trying to be argumentative here, but if we're talking about Scottish kilts, then the traditions behind wearing a kilt are set in Scotland, and not anywhere else.