Kilts associated with other countries

[massmanute]

I'm a new member here, as well as a new kilt owner, the kilt being a recent present from my wife. The kilt is an inexpensive one in Black Watch pattern to honor the Campbell ancestors in my mother's line.

Today I just found out that there is a Franconian tartan (http://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/tar....aspx?ref=1244). I think the pattern is quite handsome, but I don't think anyone sells it.

I'm thinking, wouldn't it be fun to collect tartans associated with several lines of one's ancestors. In my case a Franconian tartan could honor my paternal grandmother, who was born in Franconia. A saffron tartan (well, maybe not strictly a "tartan" but in a similar spirit to a tartan) could honor one of my paternal great grandmothers who came from Ireland.

I also just learned today about a tartan for Brittany. I don't know of any ancestor from that part of France, but my mother's maiden name was a French name. A branch of the family apparently moved from France to Scotland, stayed a few generations. Then came to the American colony of Virginia and eventually ended up in the Pacific Northwest during pioneer times. Some kind of French tartan would be a nice tie to that side of the family.

My surname is English... not quite sure which part of England it is from. How many English tartans are there?

Anyway, I just thought it would be interesting to open a discussion about tartans associated with countries in addition to Scotland. Of course, Scotland will rightly always remain the core of Tartendom (to coin a word), but taking a broader view also seems interesting.

[McClef]

Certainly there are tartans for all the Celtic Countries/areas and the Isle of Man can now be solidly added to the list!

[O'Callaghan]

There are tartans for many countries. Availability is another matter, though. The St. George tartan representing England is not stock. The London 1988 tartan is stock at Scotweb, though, for those of us from the capital. It's on my wish list. I believe that USA Kilts stocks the German American tartan, for those who it applies to. Tartans for the celtic departments of France are available from a French kilt vendor, but not for the rest of that country. And so on. There is, for example, an Espana tartan for Spain, but I have never heard of anywhere that stocks it.

Irish kilts are traditionally solid green or solid saffron, but there are a lot of generic Irish tartans, plus two for each county and one for each province. All the above are available ex stock somewhere. Many Irish family name tartans also exist, including Callaghan, but usually have to be woven specially. The exception is the Tara tartan, which is available stock and has also been claimed to be for Murphy and O'Keefe, although there are also other tartans for each of those names that are not available stock.

[Mikewood]

I am really new to the board and don't mean to speak out of turn but there seems to be a hard core clan affiliation with clan tartans and beyond that several layers of less and less militant tartan wear. Myself being on the extreme periphery I can be assumed to either wear a "national" or general tartan to show support to a specific cause as can any clansman. While I would personally not wear a tartan belonging to a clan I see no issue with me wearing say a Scottish national, USMC or even a Texas state tartan. Lots Of folks wear lots of tartans but this is what I have chosen to do on a personal level out of respect for the clans.

[Riverkilt]

I wear the Dutch Friendship Tartan to honor my Dutch lineages in my family tree.



There are another of other tartans for The Netherlands.

[Gael Ridire]

Traditionally Irish kilts are made of a plain color: green, blue, grey, red, saffron (the best saffron color I've seen is a mustard color, but usually seen in an off orange). There is a national Irish tartan which I love, and Sport Kilts has three or four generic Irish tartans. A few years ago several mills came up with a tartan for each Irish county and looked basically pastelish and more plaid then anything. House of Edgar then designed tartans for each county based on the colors of the county arms, much better. Several US states have tartans, each branch of the military, the Canadian provinces, and Cornwall has about four. Plus those already mentioned. I don't know what the count is but there may be well over 3,000 tartans. Not bad considering that in 1819 or so there were 17 tartans published.

[Bugbear]

Here's Matt Newsome's blog on the Arizona state tartan. It has links back here to the forum.

http://blog.albanach.org/2006/10/arizona-tartan.html

R.I.P Retro Red.

[Downunder Kilt]

Registered tartans are now over 10,000. Australia has two tartans and four state tartans. The Victoria tartan is my avatar

[English Bloke]

"The Australian" (tartan)


"Brittany National" (tartan)


"Brittany Walking" (tartan)

[Downunder Kilt]

Always love to see that tartan John, thanks