Scottish Festival Peeves?

[Nighthawk]

Pet peeves... Let's see here. My biggest peeve is when people borrow their wives skirts and walk proudly as if they're actually wearing kilts. I have actually seen that- slit in the back and all! Way to research things, gentlemen!

Peeve #2- people who wrap up in table cloths and pretend that they're kilts. I met a guy who was wearing his buddies great kilt, and had it wrapped around himself like 4 times, not a pleat to be seen, and couldn't figure out why it was so hard to walk! I actually told him to take it off so I could show him how to wrap it properly! Right there on the lawn at the Colorado Renaissance Festival, I gave a demo on properly pleating and wearing a great kilt.

Peeve #3- 4 foot tall kids dragging 6 foot long swords. Seriously- who the heck thought that was a good idea? Couldn't these people get their kids a dirk? My son has one!

Peeve #4- This one applies only to Scottish/Irish/ Celtic festivals. Ren Fest goers showing up in Ren fest costumes, like it's the two types of festivals are the same thing. It's annoying. I show up in my Ren Fest clothing because I'm with a living history group called the Renaissance Scots and it's appropriate for me, as it's part of our represented time period. But if you're a festival goer... it's just plain silly.

[dfmacliam]

But in reality they'll be lucky if the average citizen can match their crocs to their tube top.

Geeezzzzz... you wear a tube top once.... with a pair of Crocs.... oh wait... this isn't about me....LOL

[Colin MacBean]

Peeve #2- people who wrap up in table cloths and pretend that they're kilts. I met a guy who was wearing his buddies great kilt, and had it wrapped around himself like 4 times, not a pleat to be seen, and couldn't figure out why it was so hard to walk! I actually told him to take it off so I could show him how to wrap it properly! Right there on the lawn at the Colorado Renaissance Festival, I gave a demo on properly pleating and wearing a great kilt.

Is there perhaps a topic already created on this forum on how to properly wear the great kilt?

[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.

[Tobus]

Peeve #4- This one applies only to Scottish/Irish/ Celtic festivals. Ren Fest goers showing up in Ren fest costumes, like it's the two types of festivals are the same thing. It's annoying. I show up in my Ren Fest clothing because I'm with a living history group called the Renaissance Scots and it's appropriate for me, as it's part of our represented time period. But if you're a festival goer... it's just plain silly.

It's one of my peeves too, but a thought occurred to me today as I was driving home. How many of us have worn our kilts to a Renaissance Faire? I wonder if these people see that and think the two worlds go together. In other words, if we wear kilts to the Ren Faire, are we not somehow inadvertently inviting them to wear their costumes to a Scottish event? They may think so. After all, a kilt is hardly a Renaissance costume and really doesn't fit in with the genre (well, maybe the earliest belted plaids might just squeeze in the later years of the Renaissance, but you get my point).

I dunno, it's just something to consider.

[macwilkin]

I am not making this up, but I remember seeing a group of "Trekkies" show up to a Civil War living history event in full Starfleet uniform...

T.

[Nighthawk]

I am not making this up, but I remember seeing a group of "Trekkies" show up to a Civil War living history event in full Starfleet uniform...

T.

That's something I would do!

It's one of my peeves too, but a thought occurred to me today as I was driving home. How many of us have worn our kilts to a Renaissance Faire? I wonder if these people see that and think the two worlds go together. In other words, if we wear kilts to the Ren Faire, are we not somehow inadvertently inviting them to wear their costumes to a Scottish event? They may think so. After all, a kilt is hardly a Renaissance costume and really doesn't fit in with the genre (well, maybe the earliest belted plaids might just squeeze in the later years of the Renaissance, but you get my point).

I dunno, it's just something to consider.

You're exactly right, and that's the thing- the earliest belted plaids do squeeze in at the end of the Renaissance, which is what makes it appropriate. Also, ren fests are fantasy events, and not cultural ones. If I wear my kilt, my work boots, and an Iron Maiden t shirt to a ren fest, I can't imagine anyone looking at me and thinking "Wow! He looks like he just walked out of the Highlands of Scotland circa 1650!" That can't be the thought process because the above-mentioned outfit is not a costume of any kind. I know the Maiden guys are getting up there in years, but I don't think they're that old! Or if they are, they looked really good for their age last night! Now Highland games, on the other hand, are not an attempt at mirroring another time period, and that's the thing. They're modern cultural events. Do the ren faire crowd not realize this? That's the question that comes to my mind. Do they think that Seamus Kennedy in his white Guinness t shirt is trying to mirror historical Scotland? If so... how? How can they possibly make that misinterpretation? Where do 1800's pirates fit in with the Highland games? Did Cap'n Jack throw a caber? (Actually, I'd pay good money to see that, come to think of it... )

[wildrover]

Well, I think the Captain Jack Sparrow outfits are silly, but when I walk around in public in a kilt, people probably think I'm silly, too.

If you banned all the renfaire outfits from Scottish Festivals and Celtic Festivals etc, you'd also end up removing girls in low-cut bodices and chainmail bikinis, and I would have to cry in to my Dalmore at such a horrible loss.

My pet peeves are probably just the guys in skirts, the two-handed swords, and anyone speaking with a fake accent. The rest? Whatever .

[Nick the DSM]

I am not making this up, but I remember seeing a group of "Trekkies" show up to a Civil War living history event in full Starfleet uniform...

T.

Was Spock there checking out the historical inaccuracies?

OT but not so much OT.
In a show called Big Bang Theory, one of the characters goes as a trekky to a ren fest to basically make fun of the historical inaccuracies.

here's the clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt4j0TXaj6c

[Rob Wright]

I only have one pet peeve. Those who tell me what tartan I am wearing and get it wrong.

"Campbell? no, actually Douglas Ancient. No, it's Campbell!"

Rob