Dressed up a bit for my first outing

[Ialtog]

So, this past weekend I went out for the first time kilted. While most of our local Celtic society were down in Tucson, Arizona for the festival I was in charge of our booth at the local university's International Fair.

I admit I was very nervous, even though I was going to an International Fair. The two guys in the parking lot who sniffed and snuffed (they actually did sound a little porcine) didn't increase my confidence level. Neither did the two little girls who came running up screaming "You're wearing a dress!" I know experienced X-Markers have dealt with that situation extremely well, but I was a little stunned. They seemed like such sweet kids as they ran up to our booth, all dressed in their Kenyan clothing for a dance number they were doing later. I didn't expect the snooty comment. But my volunteer, who was wearing his kilt as well, was very calm and nice as he corrected them.

The most exciting part of the day for me was - I thought at the time - non-kilt related. A Kenyan student, probably about my age, came up to our booth. Now, I am not an extrovert, so when I am doing a booth I tend to introduce myself and then just let people browse, rather than engaging them in conversation right off the bat. He looks over our displays and I see he is actually reading everything! Soon he looks up and asks a question about Celtic history. And man, we were off. Every answer I gave him seemed to raise another question in his mind. We talked for nearly 45 minutes, ranging from ancient migratory patterns of the early Celts to maritime customs, culinary practices, the importance of story-telling, history of the bagpipes, spiritual traditions, and the symbolism of the various flags of the Celtic regions - I couldn't believe how wide-ranging his interests were! And the whole time he was drawing comparisions to his culture. It was fantastic. At the end he quietly thanked me, smiled and shook my hand. As he walked away I realized I had just had an amazing conversation with a perfect stranger - had made a connection and exchanged ideas across cultures. And the whole time I was standing there in a kilt and it didn't matter. He didn't think it was odd. He simply saw it as part of my culture - a culture he wanted to understand better. For me, it was a pretty exciting moment.

Anyway, here are the two photos. One is by our apple tree and the other is on the back porch. This is my first kilt, which arrived last month. It is a USA Kilts casual in the Ireland's National tartan. I also got the belt and pin (with Irish harp pattern) and sporran from Rocky. (And as an aside I ordered my box-pleated kilt in the Ulster ancient tartan from Matt yesterday.)

[pdcorlis]

Your smile says it all - you look brilliant - well done!

[Panache]

Excellent outfit and first outing!

Well done

Cheers

[Riverkilt]

Talk about becoming a baptized kilter! You dove into the middle of the lake and swam very well.

Kilts are an automatic conversation starter for seriously interested strangers. And, its interesting to compare cultures - particularly how unbifurcated garments for men seemed to naturally emerge in the olden days of yore.

And, so weird to get the stupid comments in Flagstaff, a well kilted city...guess there are always 2% who don't get the word.

Didn't know about the gig or might have driven down too. Were the Hopi's there in their "kilts?"

And hey, don't forget a Utilikilt for working in the garden.....

Ron

[Eujeankilt]

Nice kilt! That may be one of the most popular kilts on X Mark.

It sure is a pleasure to engage with someone who is truly curious, willing to follow their curiosity rather than their preconceptions. Botgh of you were enriched. Well done.


Dale

[GMan]

So very comfortable and natural in that look.

[mkmound]

Good job!! Sounds like everything went well -- you had the initial comments, but it sounds your extendeded cross-cultural conversation much more than made up for that. Also, your kilt (and outfit) looks great!

[Ialtog]

Didn't know about the gig or might have driven down too. Were the Hopi's there in their "kilts?"

This International Fair is sponsored by the university and focuses more on student groups and associations. Our Celtic society, while not part of the campus scene really, has helped put it on for the past several years. While we have a large percentage of Native American students here, there was not an organized presence by either the Navajo or Hopi. There was a sort of "pan-Indian" group that did some more generalized pow-wow circuit dancing and music.

It is interesting that you ask the question Ron. I had a lady come up to me who, first off wanted to compliment me on my kilt and secondly ask a question that sort of stumped me for a second. "I'm walking around the booths and I notice a lot of cultures have men's clothing that are dress-like. Why is that? Who came up with the idea that men had to wear pants anyway?"

Well, she was right. There were men from various African, Asian, and Middle Eastern cultures all wearing unbifurcated clothing. Now, I am not satisfied with an answer if it isn't at least six paragraphs long (you can ask my partner - she is always asking for the "short version") so I felt a bit of a let down that all I could say is:

"All I can say is they are damn comfortable. I wish I knew who it was that made us get into pants in the first place."

She liked the answer.

[Riverkilt]

Boy, is that a ready made doctoral thesis or what?

Wonder how far back pants go...probably to some early masochistic society...

But ain't it true...if cultures gather for an event like this there are a LOT of unbifurcated male garments that are as deeply traditional as the kilt is the the Scots.

Ron

[auld argonian]

Pants are a relatively recent development...I'd expect that we'd find that pants evolved from leggings in areas of extremely cold weather...Inuit cultures, Native Lapps, Siberians. I'd also postulate that pants caught on more quickly in cultures that were dependent on horseback riding like among the Mongols. Unbifurcated would seem to actually be more like the historical norm with bifurcated being the johnny-come-lately.

Best

AA