History lesson

[beloitpiper]

Today at the Milwaukee Highland Games, I attended the "History of the Kilt" demonstration. Bad idea. I sit down, and half of it is demonstrating how to put on a great kilt and the other half is talking about the history of the kilt. Here's a few gems that he shared with the audience:
-Kilts have been worn for thousands of years by the Celtic ethnicity
-The kilt was banned in the 16th century, only to be repealed 150 years later
-Prima Noctis was used to "breed out" the Celts (he actually referenced Braveheart on this one!!!)
-The Romans built Hadrian's Wall because of the Celts fearsome fighting, where they would remove their kilt and fight naked
...and many more. I felt a mix of despair and panic. Despair, because this guy has been active the Scottish community for decades and still falls prey to myths and legends, and panic because the audience was soaking it up as Gospel.

Luckily, the rest of the Games were much more pleasant, save for the tornado that cut it short. Photos to be posted tomorrow.

[Roan Carter]

This was a painful post to read. I'm going to go play in traffic now. >_<

[george7]

He sounds like the kind of guy who might wear his pleats in the front.

[Woodsheal]

Scary! You showed great fortitude. I would not have been able to keep my mouth shut...!

[McMurdo]

not sure what to say to that, the tornado sounds more pleasant than the speech.

[MacHummel]

I hate hear stuff like that, being a it of a history buff myself I get a littte bothered .The history of Scotland didn't start with Braveheart, don't get me wong the movie itself is a good movie but not a very historically correct film.
If you get a chance to see David R Ross speak do it he is very entertaining and full of great history, I was lucky enought to have seen him speak alot that I would bring different historical documents to ask a few questions about, and David and I sat and spoke for a great deal of time

[duchessofnc]

My hat to you for not correcting him. I would love to say that I would have sat through it and not said something but I'm a major history buff and I would have. I couldn't have done it. I'd have had no choice about it. Especially the part on the Celts fighting naked against the armored Romans.

And the justification? So that the audience would get the truth and not the fairytale.

[jordanjm]

I used to believe some of those things, but I did research and taught myself what I could. In some ways Braveheart was good, because it got people interested in their Scottish Ancestry, and heritage. In other ways it has been horrible, because now people think William Wallace wore the Kilt. For every person who actually went on and learned something about the history, and culture of Scotland There are more than one who just believed everything the movie said.

[Arlen]

I wouldn't have been able to keep my mouth shut. I would just have HAD to take him aside and correct him on a few things.

You have some fortitude there.

[Tartan Hiker]

I had a similar experience. Instead of arguing with the guy, I just jotted Matt's home page address on the back of one of my X-Marks cards, handed it to him, and walked away.