What was your first kilt?

[Seaforth Piper]

I transferred from the Royal Canadian Engineers to The Seaforth Highlanders in the fall of 1976. I'd been on a bridging exercise where several sappers had lost fingers or parts of fingers - pinched off by the Bailey bridge sections...

I thought "Jeez,I'm a piper - I NEED all my fingers" so the Infantry seemed a safer bet (hit a mine and yer ALL gone, none of this 'piece-at-a-time stuff') plus my dad and grandad had been Seaforths...

So I'm standing in the QM with a kilt (Kilt #2, Seaforth and HLI) wrapped around my hams... I must have looked doubtful because the Sergeant, he says: "Two words, lad - 'Dysentry' and 'Fornication'!

I was sold. 6 months later I was learning how to make them.

[Galloglaich]

My first kilt was 7 yards of Dress MacLeod bought for my mother's maternal grandfather, hand pleated and worn as a great kilt. It is semi moth-eaten now, but still sees action during Steeler games ("the terrible tartan"). Next I bought 7-8 yds of modern blackwatch & another that is mostly grey & unidentifiable that served as great kilts when non-clan specific kilts were needed (reenactments, etc...). I then picked up some lengths of MacDonald & MacLaren tartan that are too small to make proper great kilts, but I wanted to have examples from the paternal side of my family. I recently picked up a MacDonald of the Isles from e-bay that had the right sett, but was of a strange muted color that appealed to me for some perverse reason (when I pull up MacD. of the Isles hunting on my tartan generator and set the "mute" function up to 3 it matches the picture pretty well). I haven't recieved it yet, but when I do I'll try and post some pics and see if anyone has ever seen this particular shade. Finding matching accessories is going to be a nightmare.

[Riverkilt]

'Dysentry' and 'Fornication'

By Jove man!

Is that not the PERFECT motto for the X Marks Clan?

Would probably look more appropriate in Latin though.

Ron

[Bob C]

By Jove man!

Is that not the PERFECT motto for the X Marks Clan?

Would probably look more appropriate in Latin though.

Ron

Agreed! Any Latin scholars here to do the translation?

[Hugh]

16 oz Leslie from Kintail of Glasgow. The proprietor, Greig Sharp, was extremely helpful and the quality was excellent. Contact at www.kintail.co.uk. Leslie because of the tale that the Leslies orginated from Hungary and so many fought for the Austro-Hungarian empire that they authorized Austrians, my heritage, to wear their tartan. Now handed down to my oldest son who participates in SAMS with me - got in due to my wife's Scotch-Irish heritage. As i like to say "I am Scotch by insertion".

[cessna152towser]

First kilt was a Black Watch from a thrift shop. I had just taken up a post with the local Council in 1989 and needed to obtain a cheap kilt quickly to take part in a promotion for the Council's Leisure Centres and Swimming Pools whereby we had to hand out "Scottish Passports" on the national border at Carter Bar. These passports gave discounted entry to the leisure centres and swimming pools. I found the kilt pleasant to wear but it wasn't a good fit so after the event I donated it back to the same thrift shop and ordered a made to measure Black Watch from a local kilt maker.