Wearing kilts of other tartans than your clans.

[skauwt]

reading through this old post i agree with jockscot most scots tend to stick to the fathers name ,
ive traced so far over 600 people on my family tree going back 700 years if i had to wear every tartan im related to i`d need to start saving up for over 120 kilts ,but each to there own if ya wanna wear a kilt then do so regardless or clans or kin... but i do hold certain family surnames closer to my heart mainly through association with that particular member of the family rather than status

[David Dalglish]

I think that if you live in the Highlands as Jock Scott does you are more likely to wear your Family tartan as the Scottish traditions are still adhered to more so than anywhere else. I am a Scot from Glasgow & I wear Tartan from Different clans just because I like them. but I always apply to the Clan societys for permission to wear their tartan & have up to now been granted it.

[Jock Scot]

I think that if you live in the Highlands as Jock Scott does you are more likely to wear your Family tartan as the Scottish traditions are still adhered to more so than anywhere else. I am a Scot from Glasgow & I wear Tartan from Different clans just because I like them. but I always apply to the Clan societys for permission to wear their tartan & have up to now been granted it.

With a grin on my face, I can't help but point out, that as the kilt is highland Scots attire(not lowland Scots, not North American, not Australian, not Russian, not English and not from anywhere else in this world) then we in the highlands do feel that we have a modest duty to uphold those traditions, in a gentle, courteous, but, sometimes, firm way.

David, I really do think that you are so right in asking "the Clans" for permission to wear "their" tartan. It is a courtesy that I am sure is appreciated by them and I am delighted that they have been able to oblige you. Even these days, these small courtesies do matter and in my book, the age of courtesy is far from dead.

[JolyStNicholas]

I have my Scottish National that I really like. I have my Clan Claus because of my Santa Claus charactor that I have portrayed for over 15 years now, and my Heritage of Ireland for my family's move from Scotland to Ireland with the clan MacNaughten in or around 1878 with Sir Francis MacNaughten.

I still have to choose the Tartan for the MacNaughten Kilt I want to have made, they are all grand and the choice will be very hard to finally make.
As will the one for my Seton Family Clan tartan Kilt. I want to spend the most for the best for it because I want to be able to pass it along to my son,
etc.

And I have my BlackWatch which is one of my favorites, because of the fit and the colors of the tartan and the feel.

But as you say if you choose to wear it, be ready to defend it.

[ForresterModern]

I have not gone as far back into my lineage as Skauwt, only about 8 or 9 generations on my father's surname side, all since arrival in the NEw World, but I have already found at least 6 different Scottish surnames that have married directly into the Foster (Forrester) family line to which I am direct blood related, in addition to the Major clans of which Forresters are septs (Douglas and MacDonald), making the number of possible associations and available tartans just from this limited search pretty immense. I have stuck to my direct patrilineal tartans, the two Forresters (Modern and Hunting), a few from the major overclans---three MacDonalds (Ancient, weathered and Glencoe) and two Douglases (ancient and modern, although I am lusting for an ancient Red Douglas), as well as plans for another patrilineal tartan kilt in Allen 1996 (I have three sequential generations of direct Foster male predescessors who married their second cousins---all Allen women from the same family and the same small hollow in the hills of WV---the proverbial kissing cousins) since technically I have more Allen blood coursing my veins than Foster. I have thus far chosen to foregoe the one-off marriages of Martins and MacMillans and others into the lineage as they were always marriages into one of the patirilineal maternal portions of the family, and although a direct relative, more than one level removed from my direct Forrester/Foster lineage.

Luckily (or unlucklily, depending on your viewpoint) my mother's side is nearly all English/German in heritage, although there are a few Scots back in there as well, but even more distant than those from my father's side.

I like the feel of wearing a family tartan that has some meaning to me, particularly the Forresters but will also with the Allen once it is made up into a kilt for me. The MacDonalds and Douglases I also wear with pride and honor, along with the district tartans of IoS and Black Isle (north of Inverness), the Original Braveheart tartan and in the future the Maple Leaf (still jonesing, Barb T----hint hint). I am a member of Forrester clan but Douglas and MacDonald are pretty wide open with their memberships so thus far I have not felt the need to apply for permission. May have to rethink that, however. Allen is an almost non-existent clan currently with no organization to speak of, althoguh I am chasing down some other affilitaitons. But I like the dignity of having asked and recieved permission of th clan chiefs, so may change my ways here soon.

But most of my scot ancestry is clearly from my patrilineal side, with some offshoot matrilineals from that that are close enough relatives to warrant their direct inclusion into the patrilineal heritage.

[Peter Lowe]

My Father was English with Borders connections, my Mother Scots and I was born in Edinburgh. The name Douglas(s) runs through my Family tree so I wear the Douglas tartan. I also wear a Gordon kilt for the simple reason that it is of military weight (I bought it on e-bay) and this can have advantages in the Scottish climate.

[David Dubh]

I am a McGowan. I wear MacDonald of The Isle Hunting ancient. I wear the MacDonald because my father said that is our clan affiliation and he wears the MacDonald clan tartan, I wanted a tartan different from his (typical son even if i'm over 40). I am considering another kilt which I would like to be red, so I am thinking either the MacDonald of the Isle red, but could I wear the Gow tartan as well? Without offending highland Scots? Jock Scot??

[Monkey@Arms]

I am a McGowan. I wear MacDonald of The Isle Hunting ancient. I wear the MacDonald because my father said that is our clan affiliation and he wears the MacDonald clan tartan, I wanted a tartan different from his (typical son even if i'm over 40). I am considering another kilt which I would like to be red, so I am thinking either the MacDonald of the Isle red, but could I wear the Gow tartan as well? Without offending highland Scots? Jock Scot??

To play the devil's advocate, you are a grown man, living in Canada, why worry about what strangers across the sea would think about the color of your clothes?

As you are no doubt aware, Gowan means blacksmith. While there are Gow and Smith tartans, I don't believe there is a "clan" directly associated with either of those tartans. You are a Gow/Smith so why not wear those tartan if you want?

Best regards,

Jake

[macwilkin]

To play the devil's advocate, you are a grown man, living in Canada, why worry about what strangers across the sea would think about the color of your clothes?

Jake,

Respectfully, because without those "strangers across the sea", there would be no kilts or Highland attire. Some of us view them not as strangers, but as friends and family, and are thankful of them sharing the kilt and tartan with those of us whose ancestors left Scotland so many years ago.

Regards,

Todd

[Bugbear]

Jake,

Respectfully, because without those "strangers across the sea", there would be no kilts or Highland attire. Some of us view them not as strangers, but as friends and family, and are thankful of them sharing the kilt and tartan with those of us whose ancestors left Scotland so many years ago.

Regards,

Todd

I've tried to do my best to limit myself to a single tartan, though I do not have any real connection to a true clan. Unfortunatly, it hasn't worked out so well. I have, though, noticed that one does not always know how offencive these things are, or even that they are offencive to the Scottish people. I don't have a traditional kilt yet, and, on and off, I've questioned whether I should go down that path.

* Edit: to clarify, from my reading here and on the Scottish Tartans Museum web site, I was not aware of the tradition of only wearing one tartan and the offence multiple tartans can cause. I became aware of this after I purchased the two non-traditional kilts in two different tartans, so it was too late. I will try to stay with one tartan in the future. *