Scottish Festival Peeves?

[AFS1970]

WHen I bought my Kilt I bought a formal wear package. For quite a while, it was all I had, it came with white hose. I was gently told by some folks that I should get another color for day/informal events. I did. Currently I usually wear black hose, although I have a pair of blue also. I actually need to get new white hose. However in the various threads about what is and is not proper, I actually learned something that I had never learned before right here on XMTS (it was not about hose, but was about Highland dress).

For me getting less formal was a stretch. The first time I wore my black sneakers with my Kilt to an outdoor festival, I was sure someone would scold me for not wearing brogues. Guess what no one did. I had the benefit of learning allot in my local Saint Andrews society, and I am glad for it. If I can help someone quietly and with some dignity to wear something correctly I will. However the guy with the basting stitches still in or the backwards Kilt is probably going to take the advice. The guy dressed as Jack Sparrow likely thinks he is doing nothing wrong. I have often asked why a pirate from the 18th-19th century would be at a ren faire about the 14th-16th century, and all I have got was they had pirates back then too.

I have played in many LARPS, although mine were all futuristic and not the vaguely historical wizardry type. Although I have met people who think that they are being historical while casting spells and wearing pointy ears and wings. These people often seek out festivals and advertise themselves as historical groups, and well meaning festival staff say OK, come on down and do your thing.

Also, just playing devils advocate here, it is not OK to say no to the skinheads but say pirates, faeries, and drunks are welcome to have fun in their own way. We are all, no matter how hard we deny it, judgmental in our own ways. I remember when I was a kid the local biker club started coming to our local games. Guess what, they came had a picnic, competed in some events, and didn't bother anyone. I still remember hearing allot of remarks about what "those people" are doing here.

I wonder why, much like the various Kilted at work/graduation threads, it is just fine to do what you want to Scottish culture, but if I did the same at any other cultural event I would be publicly stoned for offending other peoples national origin.

[slohairt]

WHen I bought my Kilt I bought a formal wear package. For quite a while, it was all I had, it came with white hose. I was gently told by some folks that I should get another color for day/informal events. I did. Currently I usually wear black hose, although I have a pair of blue also. I actually need to get new white hose. However in the various threads about what is and is not proper, I actually learned something that I had never learned before right here on XMTS (it was not about hose, but was about Highland dress).

For me getting less formal was a stretch. The first time I wore my black sneakers with my Kilt to an outdoor festival, I was sure someone would scold me for not wearing brogues. Guess what no one did. I had the benefit of learning allot in my local Saint Andrews society, and I am glad for it. If I can help someone quietly and with some dignity to wear something correctly I will. However the guy with the basting stitches still in or the backwards Kilt is probably going to take the advice. The guy dressed as Jack Sparrow likely thinks he is doing nothing wrong. I have often asked why a pirate from the 18th-19th century would be at a ren faire about the 14th-16th century, and all I have got was they had pirates back then too.

I have played in many LARPS, although mine were all futuristic and not the vaguely historical wizardry type. Although I have met people who think that they are being historical while casting spells and wearing pointy ears and wings. These people often seek out festivals and advertise themselves as historical groups, and well meaning festival staff say OK, come on down and do your thing.

Also, just playing devils advocate here, it is not OK to say no to the skinheads but say pirates, faeries, and drunks are welcome to have fun in their own way. We are all, no matter how hard we deny it, judgmental in our own ways. I remember when I was a kid the local biker club started coming to our local games. Guess what, they came had a picnic, competed in some events, and didn't bother anyone. I still remember hearing allot of remarks about what "those people" are doing here.

I wonder why, much like the various Kilted at work/graduation threads, it is just fine to do what you want to Scottish culture, but if I did the same at any other cultural event I would be publicly stoned for offending other peoples national origin.

Very true. The insult appears to be lost on many people. Can you imagine showing up at a Japanese festival wearing a bathrobe, flip-flops from Wal-Mart, a ninja-to sword that you ordered online, and a Hello Kitty hat? It's the same thing.

[Vegan Scot]

Not to point fingers or argue but I'll throw in my two cents on this.

Also, just playing devils advocate here, it is not OK to say no to the skinheads but say pirates, faeries, and drunks are welcome to have fun in their own way. We are all, no matter how hard we deny it, judgmental in our own ways. I remember when I was a kid the local biker club started coming to our local games. Guess what, they came had a picnic, competed in some events, and didn't bother anyone. I still remember hearing allot of remarks about what "those people" are doing here.

My opinion is that there's a difference between a local biker club which might have a negative image based on uninformed public perception and a group which openly displays and/or advocates racist or bigoted behavior. In my book no tolerance should be afforded the intolerant, especially at an event which is privately sponsored and charges admission. If they want to have a White Supremest Celtic Pride Festival, they can have at it, but as far as I'm concerned: Not At My Games.

I wonder why, much like the various Kilted at work/graduation threads, it is just fine to do what you want to Scottish culture, but if I did the same at any other cultural event I would be publicly stoned for offending other peoples national origin.

My stab at this would be that most people, at least in the States, don't treat Scottish culture (or culture from most any Western European area) with the same egg-shell walking as other cultures because other cultures are relatively new introductions to our social awareness. It's only been recently that we have come to accept and embrace other cultural traditions and as such there is, or ought to be, an amount of reticence to make light of those traditions, intentionally or otherwise. Scottish/British/Western European culture however has been the standard in North America for the last 400 years and as such is more prone to disregardful familiarity. Again, just my opinion; I'm no sociologist.

[OC Richard]

I've been to a few Highland Games in Scotland, and I've been going to Games here in the States for 35 years, and I might point out that back in the 1970's there was less difference between Scottish and US Games than there is now.

Back then the US Games I attended were pretty much ONLY about the traditional Highland Games things. People walked about in traditional Highland Dress. There were the athletics, and Highland Dancing, and Piping, and perhaps sheep herding. Period. The merchants sold tradtional Highland Dress and ceramic Loch Ness Monsters and shortbread and little else.

All in all very much like the Games I've been to in Scotland in recent years.

For whatever reason, over the years Highland Games in the US have become more diffuse and might be called Highland/Irish/Celtic/Renaissance/Alternative Lifestyle festivals, almost a blending of a traditional Highland Games with a Ren Faire and the Seattle Folklife Festival perhaps.

[kiltedsawyer]

Not to point fingers or argue but I'll throw in my two cents on this.



My opinion is that there's a difference between a local biker club which might have a negative image based on uninformed public perception and a group which openly displays and/or advocates racist or bigoted behavior. In my book no tolerance should be afforded the intolerant, especially at an event which is privately sponsored and charges admission. If they want to have a White Supremest Celtic Pride Festival, they can have at it, but as far as I'm concerned: Not At My Games.



My stab at this would be that most people, at least in the States, don't treat Scottish culture (or culture from most any Western European area) with the same egg-shell walking as other cultures because other cultures are relatively new introductions to our social awareness. It's only been recently that we have come to accept and embrace other cultural traditions and as such there is, or ought to be, an amount of reticence to make light of those traditions, intentionally or otherwise. Scottish/British/Western European culture however has been the standard in North America for the last 400 years and as such is more prone to disregardful familiarity. Again, just my opinion; I'm no sociologist.

I find that sort of thinking intolerable.