X Marks the Scot - An on-line community of kilt wearers.
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8th October 14, 11:21 AM
#7
If it's not real why wear it?
As Tarheel intimated, a sgian dubh is a traditional accoutrement for highland dress. I have a fake sgian dubh, as well as a couple of real ones. The fake one I wear mostly when piping or making presentations in schools, which generally have strict rules about bringing any kind of weapon onto the premises. The fake sgian dubh completes the traditional outfit. Also, when making presentations to students, I have found that a sgian dubh tends to be a huge distraction for young boys, many of whom will focus on it to the exclusion of anything else. Once they find out that it has no blade, however, their interest in it dissipates quickly. The fact that I'm wearing even a fake one, though, lets me comment on the sgian dubh as part of traditional highland dress.
Interestingly, in a highland-wear shop in Inverness a couple of years ago, I overheard another piper from our group ask a sales clerk about the sgian dubhs on display. When she asked him whether he was interested in the dummy ones or the bladed ones, he replied, "Why would anyone want one without a blade?" The sales clerk explained about the strict knife laws in the UK and added that her shop sold more of the dummy sgian dubhs than they did the bladed ones. Indeed, she said, the bladed ones were bought mostly by foreign visitors. Perhaps she exaggerated a bit, but I thought her reply was quite revealing.
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