What's the "Official" Word About Tartans?

[GG]

Interestingly, this whole issue seems to concern men only. Do folks in general expect women to know about the significance or history of the tartans they wear?

I very much agree with you, Blu. From time to time fashion industry “dictates” kilts (kilted skirts) and tartans for women. Then, besides Royal Stewart and Black Watch you very often see tartans like Dress Gordon, Buchanan, McLeod, Lindsay, MacDonald and MacKenzie. Nobody seems to care and no one expects all these women to be of Scottish origin.
That’s a good thing for men who - like me – have no Scottish roots. If women can wear tartans they like I can do the same and that’s what I do.

GG

[macwilkin]

GG,

The majority of women who attend our St. Andrew's Society, as well other Scottish functions & events I have been to (games, ceilidhs, etc.) are usually wearing a tartan of:

1. Their husband/significant other
2. Their family (clan or district)

See my post above about the president of our local Scottish society and my wife.

The majority of Scottish clothiers can make a tartan skirt, etc. for women in the same tartans they can for men. I know Scottish Lion carries "on the rack" tartan skirts in some "generic" (for lack of a better term) tartans (Page & I have looked at their catalog), but most places "allow" women the same choices that the men have.

Cheers,

T.

[Casey]

When it comes to the reason I wear a tartan, I have found it much easier to have a conversation, with someone who shows interest, if I can appear intelligent about what I am wearing:

MacGregor - Father
Gordon - Mother
Maple Leaf - Canadian
Flower of Scotland - Commemorative
Black Watch - usually don't need to explain
Generic Sport Kilt - This one I have trouble with and as a result only wear it at home. My "garage kilt".

Even just spouting off the name of the tartan seems to impress most and encourage them to have a positive attitude toward me and my kilt.

Casey

[Jimmy Carbomb]

Casey, me boy... you've just captured the entire meaning of the posts that I've run in the past. That "Know Your Tartan" theme that I run is there for a number of reasons... and you've absorbed tham all! Congratulations!

With the exception of military, Royal, and "closed" tartans, why NOT wear what in the h_ll you want? IF there's a connection... GREAT! If there's not, then you should (at least) be able to know what you're wearing in case you're called on it. And if you're a male in a "Dress" tartan, you had better plead ignorance in certain places.

Incidentally, Big Matt is also a reviewer of scholar submissions with the Authority.

[macwilkin]

May I just second Jimmy's praise of Casey's "to the point" post about reasons he wears various tartans? :mrgreen:

Casey and Jimmy have summed it up very nicely:

KNOW YOUR TARTAN!

Cheers,

T.

[Shamalama]

I'd like to follow the "Official Word About Tartans" with "Who has the official say about tartans".

So far my research has generated this:
- At http://www.tartansauthority.com/web/...rtan=By+Tartan there are three possibilities:
MacCullough, ITI No: 003339
MacCulloch Dress (46), ITI No: 003346
MacCulloch, ITI No: 003340
- At http://www.house-of-tartan.scotland....se/tfinder.htm there is MacCullough/MacCulloch Family tartan, #3214; Source: Donald McCullough; Status: Registered; Date: 2000
- At http://www.scottish-tartans-society.co.uk/ there is MacCullough - TS Number: TS4091
- At http://d59723.u22.qwknetllc.com/cgi-...wone&id=5&op=t and http://d59723.u22.qwknetllc.com/cgi-...wone&id=6&op=t there are other ideas.

OK, my name (as it is currently spelled) is "McCullough". Who is it that has the "final authority" as to what "a McCullough should wear"?

I'm trying to build up to the day when I can buy and wear my first kilt, and I sort of wanted the first day to be in something that actually had some significance to my name.

House Of Tartan said they'd do their #3214 custom weave for $500, but that's too much (says my bride) for my first kilt. My first one is going to be much more common a weave.

But whether it's my first or 10th kilt, I'd like to know who can say "yep, that's the right one".

[GG]

T,

Sorry for not having expressed myself more clearly. You are definitely right.

The majority of women who attend our St. Andrew's Society, as well other Scottish functions & events I have been to (games, ceilidhs, etc.) are usually wearing a tartan of:

1. Their husband/significant other
2. Their family (clan or district)

However I was thinking of women without Scottish or Celtic roots, nevertheless sometimes wearing a tartan skirt, which they will call a kilt. They might have purchased it in chains like H&M, and only because they like the colours and the design of the skirt.
When I – no Scottish roots, Dane - started wearing kilts and was reading about the subject I chose tartans without clan affiliations, too, like hunting Stewart.
Now, I must admit, I go more for tartans I like. Clan comes second.
Rationale: If women (European, Danish) can wear any tartan they like, I as a man can do the same. I know about the tartan – and clan – of course, should anybody ask, but most of my country fellow men hardly know about the existence of clans or tartans. They’ll just recognize differences in patterns and colours.

GG

[Hamish]

I have been trying to recall whether I have ever actually been asked anything more than "What tartan is that?" or "Is that the XXXXX tartan?". I really don't think I have.

I am happy and confident enough to talk at length about my own clan tartans (Gunn, Ancient colours and Gunn, Weathered colours). The other eight tartans I wear with some regularity, including the Canadian 'Maple Leaf', I chose because I was very attracted to them, but I have mugged up on their derivations and am able to converse reasonably intelligently about them - but no-one has ever shown any interest other than, as I say, to confirm the name of the tartan confronting them.

The kilt I wear most which prompts the question, is my plain black barathea kilt. I am often asked, "What tartan is that?" when out and about in it. On one occasion, when I was wearing it whilst on duty with The National Trust at Petworth House, an elderly male visitor asked if it was Black Watch! I responded by telling him that Black Watch is dark blue and green with black, not just black. Then I couldn't resist it: "This plain black kilt is Mac-abre", I told him. He was perfectly satisfied with that and went on his way, a seemingly happy man!

Since then, I have used the explanation several times - but I choose my victims carefully

[Jimmy Carbomb]

The kilt I wear most which prompts the question, is my plain black barathea kilt. I am often asked, "What tartan is that?" when out and about in it. "This plain black kilt is Mac-abre", I told him.

Price of a good kilt: $500.00
The cost of accessories: $600.00
Having a GREAT comeback to a stupid question: PRICELESS!

[macwilkin]

Rationale: If women (European, Danish) can wear any tartan they like, I as a man can do the same. I know about the tartan – and clan – of course, should anybody ask, but most of my country fellow men hardly know about the existence of clans or tartans. They’ll just recognize differences in patterns and colours.

GG (and anyone else who might be interested):

This is certainly not a comprehensive list, but the introduction to "Tartan for Me!" and Electric Scotland's web site has a nice list of tartans for non-Scots:

http://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/weartart.htm

They suggest that if there is a "Scottish connection" in a nation's history, then that is an appropriate tartan for a citizen of that nation to wear.

For example, the Sikhs might wear the Rattray tartan in honour of Rattray's Sikh Regiment, which still maintains contact with the Clan Rattray tartan. There probably is a Scot somewhere in Danish history (the Scots got around!), and that would not be inappropriate.

We're on the same course here -- bottom line, "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery", and all of my Scottish friends certainly think so! :mrgreen:

Shamalama, YOU have the ultimate authority on what a McCullough can wear -- traditionally, the Chief, the head of the family, makes that determination, officially (as in the case of the Duke of Argyll "excommunicating" Campbell of Argyll as a "non-official" Campbell tartan) or unofficially and by custom (my Chief, Sir Alistair Gordon Cumming, wears the Ancient Cumming Hunting tartan, so a lot of us in the Clan Cumming Society wear it), but in the end, it is YOUR decision.

Also, too, remember you have a choice of District Tartans as well -- if memory serves me correctly, the M(a)cCullou(c)ghs came from Galloway -- so you have at least two more tartans -- the Galloway and Galloway Red tartan -- too choose from! :mrgreen:

Cheers,

T.