A question for our Irish kiltie brothers

[Scott Gilmore]

... Northern Ireland is inhabited by the Ulster Scots. Many of these people, although lowlanders by origin, have tartans and clan associations. ...

A great many were highland Scots who emigrated to Ulster because of economic pressures. My father's family, originally crofters from the Outer Hebrides, moved first to County Down and then later to North America.

Having said that, on a personal note, I celebrate the Irish holiday of St. Patrick's day not for religious or certainly separatist/loyalist reasons, but for how Ireland as a whole has evolved. I respect and admire the Irish resurgence from its semi-recent virtual third-world origins to contemporary economic success; Irish culture (at least as I perceive it, having never {yet} visited) possesses in abundance many social qualities I deeply admire and that contrast starkly with American social conditions; and lastly, to be perfectly frank, I feel an ethnic-cultural link-whether real or perceived-with which I identify deeply.

Happy St. Patrick's day one and all!
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[macwilkin]

Northern Ireland is inhabited by the Ulster Scots. Many of these people, although lowlanders by origin, have tartans and clan associations.

A caveat needs to be added to this statement, though: the original Ulster-Scots who came from the Lowlands would not have had tartans and clan associations; Lowland and Border families have adopted tartans and formed "clan" societies, but only after the "tartan craze" of the 19th century. When the plantation of Ulster was first settled, Lowlanders and Bordereres would have held Highlanders and anything associated with them in about as low regard as they did the "wild" Irish.

As Scott mentioned, you do have some Highlanders that settle in Ulster, though. You also have English, Welsh, and even some contientials, such as the German Palantines and French Protestants.

Regards,

Todd