Is wearing another families tartan inappropriate?

[Monkey@Arms]

There are no tartan police. Wear that sucker and strut.

Beware, that's just what they want you to believe.

Nobody ever expects the




















Nah, seriously wear what you want. That's how they did it in the old days.

Best regards,

Jake

[DamnthePants]

Forgive me if anyone finds my opinions wrong.

Anyway. It takes more then blood to make a family/clan.

By family I am a Ross, but logically, my heritage must go deeper then one clan. Unless by some luck the Ross line has married only with in its clan. But what about my fathers side. Over the course of history I could have the blood of every clan in me. And whats wrong with that.

As long as you don’t do anything that’s horribly dishonorable, I doubt anyone would call you on anything.

[David Dalglish]

If you want to feel better about wearing another family tartan, e-mail the clan society & ask permission to wear it, I have done this & have had very positive responces, but it is not essential.

[Cawdorian]

Welcome DTP, I agree that most of our heritage is goes deeper than one clan. Many of us have received our Scottish heritage through the female members of the family and don't always bear the expected surname.

In reality most people don't have any idea which tartan your are wearing, many of them look very much alike with a only a few subtle differences to differentiate them from another tartan. It is best to know the name and history of the tartan, when somone asks you about the tartan, you will be able to give them the information about the tartan and it's history. Most will be satisfied with your answer.

Wear what you like and enjoy the fun.

[flairball]

Knowing the clan history of the tartan is one way to show respect for the clan who's tartan you've chosen. This is different, however from knowing the tartan history; when it was designed, who designed it, when the clan formally adopted it, etc. You get to choose. Know the clan history, or know the economic history. After all, many, if not most of these tartans were designed by the mills, and named after a clan because it made good business sense. Only later did the clans adopt them as official making the decision to name the tartans after clans really good business sense.

[RK-REX]

Ayin, check out my signature. I'm not even close to being a Scot and I wear my kilts proudly. My wife is 100% Irish and eventually I plan on having a kilt made from the tartan of her families County.

[Ayin McFye]

I definitely agree with most of the comments/suggestions that everyone has stated. The only way that I would wear another family's tartan would be to do some research on that family. I have even been guilty of going to a kilt night at an Irish Pub, and i saw someone wearing the MacKenzie tartan, and so i walked up to them, introduced myself and had a pint with them. About 10 minutes into the conversation I asked "So do you know what family tartan you're wearing?" and he said "No, I just bought it off the shelf because it looked cool." I replied "That's cool, but just so you know that's a MacKenzie tartan and is my family's tartan, it would do my family a lot of respect if you were to research a little bit about it sometime if you have the chance. And treat it with respect just like you'd treat the American Flag (or whatever country you're in). But ultimately it's nice to meet you and welcome to the kilted world." I saw the gentlemen about 2 months later, and he had done just that, he had done quite a bit of research on the MacKenzie's and he said that he fully understood now why I said that.

I'm not 100% positive if i want to buy a Buchanan or a MacPhee, but I will most definitely learn about the family prior to the purchase.

[Colin]

check out the Buchanan that Rocky has. It's more of an ancient version of the tartan, but it looks incredible in person. Not quite as loud, but so much nicer looking in my opinion.

[Phil]

There is no such thing as an entitlement to any particular tartan. There are some personal family and corporate tartans that you would have to get permission for but otherwise choose the one you like and wear it with pride.

[Dirka Skene]

As it has been said many, many times, "There are no tartan police." I'm a Skene by blood and a Gunn by blood and virtue of marriage. I wear an Abercrombie tartan just because I like it. Wear whatever tartan you like.