Clan Tartan Appropriateness

[Armstrang]

Well, I guess we all have concerns about what we are "allowed" to wear. The thing about tartans is: There are "rules", but nobody is going to whack you if you like a certain tartan that has no relation to your family or whatever guides you have.

I have a friend who just bought a Harley. Leathers, gnarly looking vests - the whole bit. If you want to know what real tartan or color enforcement is, go out there and buy some patches that say what you are, what you think is cute, and where you are from (especially), put them on your vest, and ride around your town for a while. You will meet some really interesting folks who have an opinion about your "colors". Right or wrong, that's a fact.

So, don't feel too bad about liking a tartan you aren't "entitled" to wear. No one is going to smack you and rip your vest off of your body.

All said, I wear my family tartan and the universal ones. I would not wear a significant tartan I did not earn or otherwise "belong" to.

[O'Callaghan]

Wow, eight pages later my 2 bits:

If one chooses a certain tartan because they like it then that is just fine! Does wearing such tartan give the impression of being connected to that clan, yes. But hey, wear whatever tartan you like! Just don't state that you have a "right" to wear it. Those who have a "right" are clan members period. But to say you wear it to honor a forefather/mother then that's cool!

When I first got into my Scottish ancestry I wore the closest lineage I could trace back to Scotland - Kennedy. I wrote to be recognized by the clan chief, and was. But in time (years) it bothered me that my surname wasn't that of the clan even though I was a recognized member. When I became an Irish armiger and wrote to tell the chief, his reply was not to mix my Irish arms with his tartan. Okay. Years pasted, politics got involved with the American society leadership and I left.

Organized the O'Brien Clan and met with the clan chief who showed me that a tartan had been designed by an O'Brien downunder. However he wouldn't authorize it because tartan is not worn by the Irish in a kilt. Now I found a mill in the UK that does an ancient version of the O'Brien tartan which I dearly love and to have an 8 yrd kilt made would cost me $900 - yikes!!!!!

Recently I found sites about the PV kilts, and find this cost accepting. Face it, most only wear the kilt a few times a year. Pretty expensive for college students (my three kids & spouses). Problem with the PV kilts, the range is terrible!!! Enter the district or national tartans. I really like the Irish nation tartan! It honors my Irish heritage, yet the tartan honors my Scottish heritage, and various things are available in it too. And there's no chief to tell me what I can and can't do concerning its use (lets face it why declare allegiance to a clan chief if not willing to follow his counsel?). I'm waiting on the family to make a choice, and it may be years!!! Meantime, my one son-in-law who is Slavic by blood, attended a music fest where a vendor was selling Sport Kilts, being able to afford one, he bought the Black Stewart because he liked it. However, my wife's lienage descends from the first Stewart to America, Duncan Stewart who was banished to New England in 1653 as a P.O.W. So my wife thinks the family tartan is now the Black Stewart. One good point is the sett can be found in cotton at the fabric stores. So to wear it in honor of Duncan Stewart & it can be obtained cheaply - Hmmmm?

This is the first time I ever heard of an Irish chief even having an opinion on the tartan of his clan. I suppose this is for the very reason he gave, that Irish kilts are not traditionally tartan. Certainly, the Callaghan tartan is not recognised by the chief, and I would not really expect any Irish clan tartan to be.

The 2 sets of Irish county tartans, and the numerous national tartans that claim to represent Ireland, are nothing but the work of the tartan mills, but then so are many of the Scottish clan tartans.

In the ancient Irish form of dress, the cloaks (brat) are thought to have been tartan. It is from these that the kilt eventually derived in Scotland. Of course, the sett meant nothing, but then that was also true in Scotland for a long time after that.

The meaning of the sett comes from the clan chief in Scotland, and also from being registered, even if it is, say, the German American tartan (I'm neither German nor American, that was just an example). It is, as Jock says, a sort of club colours, and the origins, although interesting, are secondary.

[Jay]

If I may ask, do you have Cumming ancestry? I'm not challenging you; our clan is a wee one, so it's always guid tae hear of folks wearing the Cumming tartan.

T.

I do not.

A PV Black Watch was my first kilt. The Cummings was my second - a 4 yard 16oz from Burnett's & Struth. It was actually a display model in my size. I absolutely loved the tartan.

The 3rd kilt is a 4 yard 16 oz I had made. For me by Burnett's. Same idea in that I love the tartan.


Large clan, small clan. It's all good if you have a nice pattern and colours in your tartan.

[macwilkin]

I do not.

A PV Black Watch was my first kilt. The Cummings was my second - a 4 yard 16oz from Burnett's & Struth. It was actually a display model in my size. I absolutely loved the tartan.

The 3rd kilt is a 4 yard 16 oz I had made. For me by Burnett's. Same idea in that I love the tartan.


Large clan, small clan. It's all good if you have a nice pattern and colours in your tartan.

Ah, well...we do have a nice tartan, INMHO. Is it is the Hunting Cumming or the standard tartan that is similar to MacGregor and MacAulay?

T.

[Jay]

Ah, well...we do have a nice tartan, INMHO. Is it is the Hunting Cumming or the standard tartan that is similar to MacGregor and MacAulay?

T.

Standard red and green with white stripe

[Detroitpete]

First off, my opinion doesn't really count for much--its just my opinion. I'm no tartan expert by a long shot. I don't give a fig what someone else wears. I'm not saying that in a disparaging way, it just never makes sense to em to worry about such things. And to get 'miffed' about what someone wears? Wow, there's a lot going on in the world and in everyone's lives, including mine, that the idea of getting miffed by something like this is extremely low on my priority list.

If I were to recognize your tartan and say, "Hey, are you a member or related to clan X?" And you said, Nope, wearing it to honor my step-dad (or someone else important to you), I'd say, "Sounds like a heck of a guy. Care to tip a pint in his honor?"

I'd do this even if you were wearing the same tartan I wear from a clan association to which I belong.

Again, just my opinion, your mileage may vary.

[Lesser]

"At a pub on the Cowal (Lamont clan territory), I was asked if it was the Campbell tartan by a customer of the pub. The landlord assured him that mine was NOT a Campbell tartan. I enjoyed my pint in peace."


Tis true; Lamonts and Campbells have a wee bit of a "rocky" history together. Glad that you got to enjoy that pint!