The most ridiculous.......

[kiltedsawyer]

What is the most ridiculous myth / mis-information you have heard about kilts, highlanders, Scottish history, clans, clan crests, heraldry, etc? Perhaps we could put them all in one thread for newbies to read and thus help to dispel said myths.

Respectfully,
David

[Jock Scot]

Great idea and this could be interesting too.

[ForresterModern]

First one is easy---just about anything factual in the movie " Braveheart" except for the names of William Wallace, Robert The Bruce, and Longshanks.

[cessna152towser]

This could be rather fun. A lot of Scottish clan history is steeped in myth, legend and possibilities. The recognised "bible" on the subject, the Scottish Clan and Family Encyclopaedia by George Way of Plean and Romilly Squire, contains a lot of good factual information about current clan and heraldry matters, but its clans and families section makes use of phrases such as "seems to be", "may have been", and "charming legend", when describing some of the historical background. I don't believe we can ever dispel the myths, and would we really want to, many of them make great stories of romance and heroism and glorify the clans. What we can do though is dispel the mis-information of which there is a lot out there.

[beloitpiper]

I can't remember it exactly, but it was a men's fashion article somebody posted here awhile ago. It said that the kilt could only be worn by Scotsmen, and even then, only for a wedding in Scotland.

Could you imagine how rare kilts would be if this were true?!?

[haukehaien]

Start with the most obvious for a kilt site; the myth that the tartans are ancient, dating back to Roman times at least, and every clan had their own and used it as the primary way to tell who was who. Subvariations on this would include the various legal penalties for wearing a tartan not of your clan, the symbolism of colors in a tartan (e.g., red in a tartan indicates that the founder was illegitimate), and other general silliness about the tartan.

[JolyStNicholas]

I am currently reading two great books at the present: One is::A Concise
History of Scotland by Fitzroy MacClean and the second is SCOTLAND: The
Story of a Nation by Mangus MacNusson.

Both are fantastic books and given me a great deal of new information that I
wasn't aware of, or had been informed of incorrectly. Most of what I am learning I never knew at any level, fact or fable.

I would recommend them both to anyone who enjoys reading history and is a Scot at heart.

[Phil]

There is certainly a great deal of misunderstanding and misinterpretation about Scotland and its history and, in particular, the present-day fashion for creating "clans" where none ever actually existed. Border families such as Armstrongs, Bells, Scotts, Nixons, Douglas's, Croziers etc. were never clans in the way people understand clans to have been and most certainly never wore any form of highland garb. They were little more than bands of outlaws related to each other, able to exist in the lawless border country before the Union of the Crowns, and to find nowadays pseudo clan societies set up in their names, sporting newly created tartans is totally misleading. So what does this say about modern-day attitudes which seek to create such fictitious clans where none ever existed in reality?

[flatsphere]

One of the most common myths is of nothing being worn under the kilt. Whenever I'm asked if this is true, I promptly reply that this is absurd. I then explain that traditionally two items are worn under the kilt... stockings and shoes.

Cheers!

[Laird O'the Cowcaddens]

I suppose most people on this Forum have read about this person or that person who made a kilt for so & so. My point is that we tend to have an image in our mind's eye of who makes kilts. As a young soldier, I was stationed in The Castle (Edinburgh). My two favourite places to hang out at were the School of Pipeing and the Scottish Division Kilt maker's place. The first time I walked into the Kiltmaker's place, I saw this HUGE black mountain of a man with a half made kilt in his hands. I asked the soldier in front of me who is that guy, he looked at the mountain and then at me and said, "He's the heid o'the kilt dept". I looked at the mountain again and said, ''THAT'S THE KILTMAKER ???". He heard me and came over and said in a voice reminiscent of John Laurrie, "Are ye heer for sumthin or jist gawkin". Fact, or, Scottish Lore ???. Those of you in and around Ol Reekie, know the answer.