How old is a tradition?

[James]

I agree with the above, in that highland dress is a dynamic thing, and so questions regarding tradition can soon start going round in circles: compounded by such once very strong traditions such as the kilt never being worn south of the highland line by anyone with any pretense to being a gentleman*-apart from the military. Now it is seen as a common form of Scottish as opposed to highland dress.

* That would mean that I'm no gentleman!

However there is another problem, and that is of conventions-these are not of necessity written down-and might be restricted to a certain clan/region/organisation-gatherings even. Possibly this is a very British thing, where certain nuances of behaviour which are 'known' as opposed to being set out in any book-pronouncement etc, do influence ones standing and behaviour.

This can lead to immense differences of opinion: for when attending certain events kilted-I will often be observing unwritten rules that I know it is necessary to follow-rather than adhering to dressing in what might appear to be the accepted fashion according to the book-wider atitudes.

Thus if attending say a gathering I'd certainly wear a tweed jacket and tie together with appropriate headwear-there are other nuances-but enough is enough. For I'd be observing an unwritten convention as to how to dress for the occasion. Yet such a way of dressing would be entirely distanced from my casual day to day attire.

So today we do have an interesting situation: where one the one side there is the dynamic evolution of the kilt and matters pertaining to it. Then there are the recorded traditions and the various books saying how the kilt etc should be worn, coupled with the various edicts of pundits and authorities. Lastly come the trouble makers like myself, who have been brought up adhering to certain conventions as to how highland dress should be worn on this or that occasion-who from time to time find ourselves at odds with the other two approaches.

This leads to the suggestion that the real problems are not of tradition-convention-dynamism even: but how we can accomodate our various approaches in an amicable way so as to further the evolution and wearing of such a sensible garment.

James

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Sometimes I have to be careful that I don't give the wrong impression about wearing the kilt. When I, and others, insist upon their being no "rules" for wearing the kilt, we certainly don't mean to completely throw fashion sense out the window.

It's not meant at all to mean that you can show up at the next Tartan Ball and Gala in your kilt with Teva sandals and a tie-dyed t-shirt!

There are rules of fashion, unwritten and changing as they are, and this will always be so as long as we live in a society with other human beings that wear clothes. When you go into a court room before a judge (lawyer or otherwise) you wear a jacket and tie. When you are out mowing the lawn you wear old jeans and a t-shirt. Your job, your church, and even your leisure activities all have a style of clothing that is appropriate to them, and you dress accordingly.

It goes without saying that the same applies to the kilt. Of course the kilt really is a uniform for some groups of people. If you are a member of a regiment, a pipe band, a dance group, or certain Scottish-interest societies, then you will have a certain dress code that you are expected to adhere to.

However, the impression has somehow gotten into the mainstream (less so today than a generation ago) that these groups set the standard for how the kilt had to be worn. That the military, and the pipe bands, set the tradition for how we all must wear the kilt. And for a while it seems like they did!

But I suggest we look back to an older tradition, back to before the kilt became something "ceremonial" and was worn on a more regular, if not daily basis, by the Highland people. Think of it as an article of clothing, and not as a costume or uniform. This does not mean that no rules apply and you can wear anything with the kilt willy-nilly. No, the rules of fashion still apply, but this is not the same as having a dress code.

I once heard a kilt wearer get dressed down at a Highland Games by someone who noticed that the fold-over on his hose was less than the required four-finger widths (or whatever he thought it was supposed to be). I thought to myself, "When did that poor man sign up to join your unit, bub?"

So I agree with you wholeheartedly James -- dress appropriately to the occasion!
Matt

[Ayin McFye]

I was just killing some time here at work on a Friday afternoon, so I thought i'd go back in time to some of the posts of old.

Alan started this thread over 2 years ago, and threads like these are always good to be revived. I'm going to add my 2 cents on this topic as well.

Kilt Traditions are very much like Matt said years ago; A living tradition. It has and will continue to evolve as time goes on. There are many traditions that I have and do that were both created by me or followed by others ranging from a few years to my whole life.

So, my advice to anyone out there that feels that they are not following "tradition" I believe you have to ask yourself what tradition you are referring to, because there are countless of them out there.

For Example; I traditionally wear black hose/socks with my kilts, but that doesn't mean that I have to or always will. There are a few kilts out there that I plan to buy, and I will probably change what hose I wear with those.

Anyways...I just wanted to revive this thread. I'll probably be reviving more, because there is a lot of valuable information that has passed by over the last few years that I wasn't privy to, because I wasn't here.

I was a little scared when I saw over 269 pages of threads in the General Kilt Talk alone. Oh well... it'll be worth it.