Kilts Scottish only??

[Archangel]

you guys are all being so civil, it's scary. I'm impressed.

[Raphael]

I have always thought that the Kilt is a Scottish garment. I have never heard of Irish/Welsh/Cornish/Manx Kilt until I joined this forum.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Did you do dedicated research to determine this? I am curious to know how you came to this conclusion, not that I am refuting it. I know that you have done a lot of research on the kilt and kilt wearing.

I first began researching the history of the kilt some 12 or 13 years ago due to my involvement in reenacting. I wanted to be as accurate as possible in my kit. I found that many people had a lot of misconceptions about the antiquity of the kilt, and that the actual history painted a different story.

When I was hired by the Scottish Tartans Museum almost 9 years ago, I continued in my research, and had access to many more historical sources.

All the evidence out there show the kilt to be a garment that originated, developed, and evolved in Scotland. That's the long and short of it. No one ever suggested otherwise until modern times, and usually then as a marketing ploy. I've recently read material on-line that both claims the kilt was worn anciently by the Welsh, and by the Austrians, both of them attempts by companies to sell their products.

M

[KiltedCodeWarrior]

Mac,

Thanks again. I am going to get a copy of the book you suggested. In doing some more searches last night, I came across a few other sites that also refuted the idea of Irish, Welsh, Manx, etc. wearing kilts. They also echoed your comments that it was being done for marketing more then for historical accuracy.

[An t-Ileach]

Matt wrote

In the twentieth century, you have the kilt being adopted by Cornish nationalists, Welsh nationalists, etc., as well as many Irish, as a way of identifying themselves as "celtic" (read, non-English), primarily (in my opinion) because the kilt was such an easily recongizable "celtic" form of clothing.

I think that this establishes it. But, marketing ploys aside, I think it's moving on from here even. There's a rising level of desire to find a general Celtic identity - which may well be separate from the nationalisms - and the kilt is becoming its outward manifestation.

This seems to be taking place across the Celtic home nations of the British Isles (Scotland, Wales, RoI and NI, Cornwall, and IoM) and even gaining ground in Brittany and Galicia. What the reasons for this may be would need a political scientist to examine - probably it's got something about not wishing to disappear into amorphous pan-national political arrangements.

Anyway, if they want to adopt the kilt that's fine by me, as long as it is recognised as being an import from the Scottish highlands and islands - a gesture to some sort of pan-celtic identity - and not try and make of it something that it's not.

[Kiltedmusiclover]

Not only has Mac researched this topic, he has also written a book that covers a good bit of this thread. I highly recommend it.


http://albanach.org/books.htm

You can read an excerpt of his book here:
http://www.scottishtartans.org/kilt.html

[Archangel]

I feel like Groundskeeper Willie: "aw this nicey-nice blather and no scrappin! an ye call yersel kilted?!"


(actually I hate writing in brogue, it's so Brigadoon, forgive me.)