Tartan Etiquette

[Jock Scot]

Gents, if I may. I think all many posters are saying in response to your observation Jock (which i think is a correct observation) is that intensity of feeling about one's origins generally increases in proportion to remoteness from origins, both in distance and in time. I don't think that is at all surprising. I also think it is entirely human and is not solely the province of people with highland Scottish ancestry. I think Father Bill is simply disappointed that you do not seem to understand that. Does that assist?

I would have thought that my(true) story of my very pleasant chat with two New Yorkers posted today in this thread demonstrates perfectly that I do very much uderstand the enthusiasm------ as a matter of the fact that it exists---- of those outwith Scotland about their ancestry. But perhaps Bill failed to see it?

[Nathan]

So I think the simple rule of 'wear the tartan of your father's line' is entirely appropriate for people who still live in the UK. I think it is much less straightforward for the Celtic diaspora who feel a strong need to reconnect with the culture of their ancestors by wearing the kilt, but they aren't sure of the connection (because the link was broken long ago), their family histories are complex or simply not known, and there is no cultural context to help them.

I don't live in the UK, but I wear my father's tartan. My brother xman has a more liberal view of some of these matters than I, but I think he wears MacDonald tartans most of the time. My other two kilt wearing brothers wear MacDonald of Clanranald exclusively.

If I wanted to honour my whole gene pool I'd end up buying MacNeil of Barra, MacInnes, Gillis (usually MacD of CR anyway), County Cork, MacDougall, Thompson etc...

You can only be loyal to one Clan. Typically your father's. if you don't have a Clan, don't wear a Clan tartan unless is is a generic "government sett" like Black Watch (which is also Campbell). There are many nice tartans.

That said, I know a man who wears his mother's tartan because his father left the family when he was 2 and he has no connection to that said of his family. In his case, his "clan" really is his mother's side, despite the fact that he took his father's legal name.

Although I only wear one Clan tartan, I would wear others depending on the context. I'd love to have a maple leaf tartan to wear on Canada Day, for example. But the others I would wear would be equally connected to me such as regional tartans etc....

For now though, I'm happy with my MacDonald tartans. It says who I am and I wear it with pride. It's a question of heritage for me more than a question of fashion.

N

[Father Bill]

Yes. I saw it. Quite different to your response to me, Jock.

As I said, let's let it drop.

[Jock Scot]

Yes. I saw it. Quite different to your response to me, Jock.

As I said, let's let it drop.

Drop it? Of course. But please don't put words into my mouth.

[Father Bill]

Drop it? Of course. But please don't put words into my mouth.

And you're correct. I was relating your comments to earlier discussions and put them in that context. Sorry to ruffle feathers; mine were pretty well bent out of shape too.

[Jock Scot]

And you're correct. I was relating your comments to earlier discussions and put them in that context. Sorry to ruffle feathers; mine were pretty well bent out of shape too.

And there I was thinking that the subject was dropped!

Actually, I honestly cannot see why one feather of yours should be out of true. Still its been ever thus!

[kilted scholar]

This is a purely personal and unscientific observation. I lived in the USA for nearly thirty years. In my limited experience and within my range of personal contacts, I have found as many, if not more, people here in the UK exploring their family roots as in the USA (and, married to an American, I was thoroughly integrated into the indigenous community). Those I have known doing this are equally intense on both sides of the Atlantic. Perhaps the visibility of Americans when visiting other countries and the sheer size of the population in North America meaning there are more of them searching for roots may create an impression that this is peculiar to there (or Australia).

In recent decades population mobility has increased dramatically. There are comparatively few these days living in the precise area their ancestors have lived for generation upon generation. There is even a programme on television here in the UK devoted to people discovering from where their families have come. To portray this scenario as the Scotland /the UK v the rest is a serious distortion.

[Nathan]

Having been raised in a living Celtic culture, I guess my approach to participating in Highland things is less about "getting in touch with my roots" and more about "preserving, protecting and propagating" Cape Breton Gaelic/Highland culture.

Tartan is part of this. Although it takes a seat far behind learning to play pipes or fiddle or sing and speak Gaelic or learning to step dance; being a kilt-wearer has a lower barrier to entry than being an excellent piper or fluent Gaelic speaker for the interested Gaelic descendant.

But why should people care at all? They're in a new country aren't they? I think the remnants of the Clan system has something to do with this. I'm not a Highland Scot in the sense that I don't live in the Highlands of Scotland, but I'm a MacDonald. I'm a member of a worldwide diaspora of fellow Clan Donald members.

Not only that, I was raised in a Gaeltachtd where Celtic arts are practiced daily, Gaelic songs are sung, stories are told and even our English accents have a Celtic lilt and bits of Gaelic grammar intersperced.

When I lived on Cape Breton Island, this was not stressed. It was a given. It was nothing special to wear MacDonald of Clanranald tartan since most of my fellow Cape Bretoners were also entitled to wear the same tartan. In CB, kilts are for formal occasions, Highland dancers, pipers/pipe and drum bands, soldiers and if you were of a mind, the local Highland Games. There are plenty of ceilidhs, mòds, fèisean and Scottish music and culture festivals a year on Cape Breton where it would be rare to see a kilt.

That said, almost everyone has some tartan in their possession whether it's a necktie, waistcoat, kilt, table cloth or whatever they can afford and they wear it when it moves them. Lots of people had tartan ties on in my Highschool yearbook graduation photos but a kilt outfit is an extravagant purchase for a coal miner or steel worker so there are far more Cape Breton Gaels that "wished they owned a kilt" than those who actually own one. Even many who could afford it, wouldn't think of it as a sensible purchase given the limited opportunities they would get to wear it. They would rather spend the money on hockey equipment for their children than peacock around in a kilt for no reason.

Even so, most everyone knows what their clan tartan looks like, and most everyone puffs out their chests with pride when the pipe band marches by and most everyone knows at least a few swear words and expressions in Gaelic.

Now that I live in Toronto, a City of millions with kurtha pajamas, hijabs, turbans, cheung sams, dred locks etc... I wear my kilt on appropriate dates and times to remind my fellow City dwellers that we Gaels are part of this Country's story too. That we were here and still are here and that not all "white people" are of the same ethno-cultural background.

And like I said, when I do so, I wear my own Clan's tartan.

[Liam]

I've been debating whether to weigh in on this one or not. There are obviously differing opinions on this subject, and I won't attempt to convince anyone that their opinion is incorrect, just as I'll likely ignore most others' opinions on this subject. I believe you should have a connection with a particular tartan that goes beyond liking the colours of it. I also believe that the wearing of a kilt is a symbol of a current or historic connection to the Scottish Highlands. As a Canadian I am amongst 15% of the population that claim to have Scottish heritage. Our Country, every Province and many cities, universities and other organizations have their own tartans. Tartans are part of Canada's "fabric" so to speak, both our heritage and our culture. Those of us who choose to honour our heritage - be it by wearing a Clan tartan, or a district tartan have every bit the right to do so as a resident of Scotland, where tartan and the kilt originated. Canada has a proud heritage of being multicultural, so it is common to see different ethnic garments proudly worn on the streets of the country from Victoria to St. John's including the kilt.
Those that differ with me please read the first line above.

[Mike_Oettle]

This has been a fascinating discussion, despite (or perhaps precisely because of) the misunderstandings that have led to more detailed explanations.
Like many here, I am interested in all my ancestors and their roots in the lands they came from (all outside Africa before the 17th century), as well as where they have lived during the 3½ centuries of European settlement in Southern Africa.
I take pride in my antecedents who originated in France (Protestants who fled Louis XIV), the Netherlands, Germany (not only my paternal great-grandfather, but also others before him who settled at the Cape under Dutch rule), England and India (who were brought to the Cape as slaves).
But I do not wear lederhosen to express my German culture (it was not done in my great-grandfather’s family), nor clogs for my Dutch ancestors – klompen are worn, like the equivalent footwear of English origin, in low-lying areas where the ground is likely to be wet. The Boer people adopted other styles of clothing and footwear suited to the land they have lived in these past few centuries.
Some Boer traditions are meaningful to me – I have for many years worn velskoene (shoes or boots made of raw animal hide) because they are comfortable as well as hard-wearing.
But others are repulsive because of the excessive emphasis placed on Afrikaner culture in the apartheid years.
Scottish culture, and especially bagpipe music, and kilts and tartan, has far more meaning for me because it symbolises something different from the two main streams of white South African culture: the Afrikaans (with its negative connotations) and the English. In South Africa, English culture is an amalgam, embracing many things, but in many cases it is quite strongly opposed to things Scottish.
Wearing a kilt while serving in my regiment gave me a yet stronger attachment to Scottish culture.
It is hardly surprising, then, that I love wearing the kilt, and am fascinated by the variety of tartans – not only existing ones, but newly designed setts from many parts of the world, and those I hope will one day be accepted as South African tartans.
While there are many South Africans who have grown up in families that belonged to Caledonian societies and have an easy familiarity with kilt-wearing, piping, Scottish dances and Burns Nicht suppers, I come from a family where this was strange.
I have a strong desire to express myself in Scottish ways, by wearing kilts and bonnets, and embracing Scottish culture.
This kind of attitude is strange to Jock Scot because his Scottish roots are pretty well immediate, and he has never been in any doubt as to what clan tartan he ought to wear.
In embracing Scottish culture, I am not trying to be a Scot – I am only too well aware that I am many other things besides. But I feel that the wearing of tartan is something that South Africans could do to a far greater extent.
The kilt is well suited to the South African climate, and there are many South Africans of Scottish descent who have little or no connection with their Scottish roots – Afrikaners especially.
Many South Africans could actually wear Scottish tartans, while others would find other tartans suitable: South African district tartans, or tartans specifically designed for South African families.
Alba go bragh!

And having got that off my chest, I should also make a comment on the Clergy/Clarke group of tartans. My thanks to Matt Newsome for his most informative article on the topic. But in one respect he has erred. He correctly refers to the clergy of Scotland as belonging broadly to the Church of Scotland (known outwith Scotland as the Presbyterian Church) and the Roman Catholic Church. But the third group he refers to, he misnames as the Church of England. The C of E’s Scottish equivalent is the Scottish Episcopalian Church, which is self-governing has no direct link to the established church of the southern realm, although its bishops are invited to Lambeth.
Regards,
Mike