Sash on the left???

[tky58]

We are planning to go the local Burns night dinner. We have been before and have a great time.

My lovely bride of almost 30 years will be wearing a sash in her family tartan (Douglas).
I will be in my PC and Leatherneck kilt.
I am the state commander of a veterans group (Marine Corps League).

What are the 'by the book rules' for a wife wearing a sash - right vs left?
I doubt it would strictly apply since she is not wearing Leatherneck.

Ultimately I am an American and we tend to make up our own rule as we go but...

Steven Wilson, MD
Commandant
Marine Corps League
Department of Maine

[Steve Ashton]

Semper Fi

There are myths and there are conventions. But really, there is no rule book. Most ladies wear a sash over the left shoulder and pinned at the right hip, even if there is a story that The Lord Lyon many years ago said that the right shoulder was correct. But, then again, The Lord Lyon deals with Coats of Arms and not Tartan or the wearing of Tartan.

[tky58]

Thank You, Steve. And Merry Christmas.

[Tarheel]

My thoughts are based on the loyalty and allegiance display of an item. With a national anthem or pledge, the hand goes over the heart (for civilians). There would be different rules for military veterans.

This is your wife's tartan and her birth right to honor. I say sash on left shoulder (covering the heart) and pinned at the right hip.

I can see the Lord Lyon's logic being used for other circumstances not covered in this thread.

[Father Bill]

My thoughts are based on the loyalty and allegiance display of an item. With a national anthem or pledge, the hand goes over the heart (for civilians). There would be different rules for military veterans.

That's a purely American tradition. Nobody else in the world does that.

The lady's tartan sash is a purely Scottish tradition, not American.

[Tarheel]

I'm sorry if I didn't understand. I was basing my comments on photos and drawings posted here. I don't mean to be obstinate, but here are a few examples.
Princess Anne

Queens Victoria and Elizabeth II
Though not a tartan sash, I used this for my observation.

[Father Bill]

Ah! Those are not sashes; they're "orders". Still....

[Dollander]

I always thought the convention was that royalty/ nobility wear their sashes (orders, whatever) on their left shoulder, while regular folks will wear it on the right. And the Lord Lyon's specific recommendation about tartan sashes is that only if a woman is either chief of her clan or married to the chief is she to wear a tartan sash on her left shoulder. But like Steve pointed out, his authority only pertains to arms, not the conventions of Highland dress.

I suppose it's not unlike stepping on someones's toes by wearing a purely decorative hackle in a color that just happens to represent a regiment in which you never served. And seeing as you live in a country where titles of nobility are nonexistent, unless you're really, really worried about someone getting offended because they think she's posing as the chief of Clan Douglas, I'd say she should wear the sash whichever way you both think looks better. Just my two cents.

[Tarheel]

Gentlemen, I will always welcome being educated by those that know more than I do. That point alone is a good reason that this site helps clarify questions like the one asked.

[plaid preacher]

I don't know that I can contribute to how a lady wears a sash. I would say this is governed by fashion and convention - but I'm sure someone will debate that.

As for the photos you shared, Tarheel, you unfortunately picked three members of the royal family all wearing the blue sash of the Royal Order of the Garter. Had you post pictures of three male members of the order you would find that they wear it in the same direction. The wearing of Orders, like the wearing of military medals, is very proscribed. I have a hunch that the sash of the Royal Order of the Garter is worn from left shoulder to right hip because at one point it was strictly male in members. Men tend to wear the sash from left shoulder to right hip because their baldric/sword belt is worn from right shoulder to left hip. To underscore this - or perhaps, confound it - here is a photo of the Toronto Scottish Regiment. The Officer, sword drawn, wears a sash from left to right; the Warrant Officer behind him wears the same sash in the opposite direction ...notice he does not have a sword, but a rifle.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pah57/4088498464

Orders from across Europe, worn by females, all worn in different directions, based on the order. This was an interesting study. http://orderofsplendor.blogspot.ca/2...and-stuff.html

So back to women's sashes, my hunch is that based on the above, and the fact that men used to wear a cross belt, which dictated sashes be worn left to right, to differentiate female from male, the direction was reversed.

Hope this helps....although there is a fair bit of speculation.

Regards.

Robert