New English kilt wearer advice

[Father Bill]

thanks for all the messages. does anyone know what the easiest way is to research if i have scottish heritage or not? my family does't know of any. thanks

Well there are DNA services that the folks here talk about a lot, but I don't think they follow all of the roots of your family tree at once, and so they can probably get expensive if you're trying to track down all the many possibilities, combinations and permutations.

On the other hand if you're tracing documents, I think that the estimate I read is that 7% of the folks in any generation aren't fathered by who they thought they were. Now that's encouraging, isn't it!


Then there's the "Black Watch solution."

You know, wear a regional or general tartan that you like, and smile a lot!

[guardsman]

Your gay,people know your gay, so macho is name of game,so wear universal tartan and stand proud.Dont wear clan unless connection, well I wouldnt!!!!

[Baldybrown]

With the way the English and Scottish armies ignored the border over the centuries, it seems to me that you can't really be one without being, at least in part, the other. Enjoy that part of your heritage as well.

[David Thorpe]

Well there are DNA services that the folks here talk about a lot, but I don't think they follow all of the roots of your family tree at once, and so they can probably get expensive if you're trying to track down all the many possibilities, combinations and permutations.

DNA testing for men only shows connections in the direct male line, so if Grandma was a Scot but Grandpa wasn't, a DNA test would not show a Scottish connection. For women, its the opposite -- only the mother to daughter line shows.

Sorry for the hijack. Just wanted to clarify.

[John_Carrick]

I was advised in an Edinburgh kilt shop last year that one is best off following the female line for reliably assigning oneself to a clan or tartan. Interesting and one wonders what seeds of doubt are being sown out there!
John

[Tuirc]

I just happen to be in the middle of receiving my 67 marker DNA test now, so I'll jump in with my wee bit of knowledge and jump back out. If you just want to check and see what your family is (paternally that is), then a 12 marker test should be sufficient. In my test I had some 300+ folks show up in my 12 marker test. About 85% of those had surnames encompassed by my clan. I don't really understand how Pattersons are MacLarens, but I can tell you that they are genetically MacLarens....lol. One of the oddities of developing surnames initially I guess. At any rate, you should be able to see quite quickly if you have Scottish blood on you father's side.

[guardsman]

to john carrick, seems mainly women carry on traditions so perhaps right. I had more push to wear a kilt from my mother than my father.My father adores the kilt , my mother loved it. Look at asians ,women traditional ,men in breeks,say no more

[dea3369]

That really is puzzling to me. There's no more manly attire than Highland Dress... just look at all the covers of Romance Novels!

Of course, not that we actually look at the covers of "romance novels." We buy them for our wives, who enjoy reading the books, not looking at the cover.

As OC Richard wrote in a previous post, here in the USA, folks wear kilts pretty much because they like to wear kilts. When folks ask why I wear one, I tell them I'm Irish on my wife's side. Kidding aside, my Spanish grandmother is ver likely the closest I get to having Celtic blood.

Kilt wear here is also not limited to just tartan, but also self-colored, contemporary kilts, such as those by Utilikilts. In fact, many of my friends and acquaintances started with a solid-color kilt purchased at some event. Many of us went on to make X-Kilts (thank you Alan H.), then a smaller number continued on to tartans -- either made to order, off the rack, or self-made. Reasons range from discovering their Celtic heritage, to association with an entity that has a tartan (e.g., US Air Force, firefighters, etc.), to simple desire to have a kilt in a universal tartan, such as Black Watch.

So, go for it, wear your kilt(s) as often as you see fit.

[knotty]

Greetings from the colonies John.
Where can you wear to a kilt? "Any day with a 'Y' in it". As someone who only joined the Kiltie Crue last June I found the are 2 big kilt times; When you buy your first., When you walk with pride in your kilt. Since the snow stopped fallin Iv only worn kilts.
I live in smack dab in the middle of Redneckville, where anyone being different is odd. I get very few negative comments. One thing I have noticed is that I walk taller & with more confidence.
Wear it with pride & wear it well John! A kilted man is a 1 & 1/2 Man.

Craig