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18th October 09, 12:35 PM
#1
Some teenage Scotman in the day started a new fad.
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18th October 09, 12:42 PM
#2
It always struck me as just the sort of thing a man would wear while running from a jealous husband. Get chased far enough into the wood, and it may be all you've got for a while.....
'A damned ill-conditioned sort of an ape. It had a can of ale at every pot-house on the road, and is reeling drunk. "
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18th October 09, 12:49 PM
#3
Simply put, the Celts and other Northern Europeans were trouser-wearers. But, the Celts in the Scottish Highlands had to deal with wet, boggy, steep terrain and bare legs are easier to dry than trousered legs, and who wants to wear wet trousers 24/7? Plus, they weren't horsemen in the Highlands like the Celts elsewhere - another reason to not need trousers....
Brian
"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." ~ Benjamin Franklin
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19th October 09, 08:03 PM
#4
 Originally Posted by Woodsheal
...the Celts in the Scottish Highlands had to deal with wet, boggy, steep terrain and bare legs are easier to dry than trousered legs, and who wants to wear wet trousers 24/7? ....
Would this explain why the Highlanders are so often depicted as shoeless?
This has always struck me as odd being that Scotland (especially with the cold weather of a few centuries past) with its rough terrain would be a place where going barefoot would flourish
Cheers
Jamie :ootd:
-See it there, a white plume
Over the battle - A diamond in the ash
Of the ultimate combustion-My panache
Edmond Rostand
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19th October 09, 08:24 PM
#5
 Originally Posted by MacMillan of Rathdown
It is my contention that it was against this backdrop of climatic, economic, agricultural, and political disaster that the kilt was born of absolute necessity-- the need to wrap oneself in rags and huddle near a fire to keep from freezing to death whilst slowly starving.
Of course one can never be certain, but IMHO this is a very well-reasoned line of thought.
 Originally Posted by MacMillan of Rathdown
...Chronology of Scottish History by David Ross; Geddes & Grosset, 2002. For a general overview I'd recommend The Lion in the North by John Prebble, [my copy] Coward, McCann & Geoghagan (New York), 1971, and A Concise History of Scotland by Sir Fitzroy Maclean; [my copy] Thames and Hudson, Ltd. (London), 1970. ...You might also want to get a copy of the latest catalog from James Thin, Booksellers, in Edinburgh-- but I have to warn you books on Scottish history, once you really get into it, are almost as addictive as heroin, and a far more expensive habit!
You are certainly right about the last statement...and so the reading list grows! Thank you.
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21st October 09, 07:47 PM
#6
 Originally Posted by Panache
Would this explain why the Highlanders are so often depicted as shoeless?
Jamie :ootd:
The Irish called the Scottish mercenaries "red shanks" for their bare legs and feet. I suppose one just got used to the cold.
Jay
Clan Rose - Constant and True
"I cut a stout blackthorn to banish ghosts and goblins; In a brand new pair of brogues to ramble o'er the bogs and frighten all the dogs " - D. K. Gavan
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21st October 09, 08:48 PM
#7
 Originally Posted by JRB
The Irish called the Scottish mercenaries "red shanks" for their bare legs and feet. I suppose one just got used to the cold.
Indeed! Here is a reference from the STA site.
Highlanders were out in all sorts of weather, bare legged and frequently bare-footed and one of the names given to them was Redshankes - shanks is an old word for legs and the red legs were caused by exposure to the winds, rains and snows of the Highlands. In 1543 a Highland priest called John Elder wrote a fairly detailed letter on the subject to Henry VIII.
In 1688 the Governor of the Isle of Man wrote a description of Highlanders: "Their thighs are bare, with brawny muscles . . . a thin brogue on the foot, a short buskin of various colours on the legg, tied above the calf with a striped pair of garters. What should be concealed is hid with a large shot-pouch, on each side of which hangs a pistol and a dagger. A round target on their backs, a blew bonnet on their heads, and in one hand a broad sword and a musquet in the other."
I have always loved this one too:
Captain Burt whom we read of a little bit earlier, had something to say about the Highlander's shoes: "They are often barefoot, but some I have seen shod with a kind of pumps made out of a raw cow hide with the hair turned outward. They are not only offensive to the sight, but intolerable to the smell of those who are near them. By the way, they cut holes in their brogues though new made, to let out the water when they have far to go, and rivers to pass; thus they do to prevent their feet from galling." (becoming sore).
http://www.tartansauthority.com/Web/...land_Dress.asp
Last edited by HarborSpringsPiper; 21st October 09 at 08:54 PM.
Reason: url
Ken
"The best things written about the bagpipe are written on five lines of the great staff" - Pipe Major Donald MacLeod, MBE
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18th October 09, 02:30 PM
#8
 Originally Posted by Jack Daw
Some teenage Scotman in the day started a new fad.
I agree with this!
Gillmore of Clan Morrison
"Long Live the Long Shirts!"- Ryan Ross
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18th October 09, 04:32 PM
#9
 Originally Posted by Nick the DSM
I agree with this! 
I can see the father sitting in the livingroom in his leine and brat when his teenage son comes bounding down the stairs wearing a tartan great kilt, "Hold on there, son!! You're not going outside of the blackhouse in THAT!!"
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