Interesting email from an Irish fellow about Irish kilts.

[Tommy Hunt]

He may well have a point about the Irish tartans being designed and woven in Scotland but he's wrong about them being laughed at.

I had very good reactions to my County Antrim on my recent trip to Ireland and Gregory hasn't had bad reactions from the natives as opposed to one Australian.

He doesn't seem to have a good understanding of the Irish Diaspora nor seemingly of the strong ties and connections with Scotland that can be found in Northern Ireland.

Sounds to me like he wants to be divorced from Scotland.


...and the kilt!

[Carolina Kiltman]

The association more likely comes from the large number of Irish-Americans who are policemen and firemen, and the association of pipers with those two professions.

Todd

That certainly is possible. I was just throwing in what came to mind first. I do know that all too many people take movies as accurate historically, and before movies, plays. This is a problem that goes all the way back to Shakespeare. (I seem to remember his putting in a line about a clock striking in Julius Caesar.

[macwilkin]

That certainly is possible. I was just throwing in what came to mind first. I do know that all too many people take movies as accurate historically, and before movies, plays. This is a problem that goes all the way back to Shakespeare. (I seem to remember his putting in a line about a clock striking in Julius Caesar.

More than possible, I would say...I use the Irish as my example when I discuss immigration in the 19th century in my American history classes.

It's in those same classes where I have to "clean up" the mess that "historical" movies make.

T.

[Sir Robert]

Ireland and Scotland have been swapping DNA for at least 2000+ years. To say that there is much differance is to be ignorant of the facts. Lets go back 1000 years, there would be zero differance between the two. 100 years ago the Irish population viewed the Scottish Highlanders as Cousins if not Brothers. In fact Irish Nationalists arround that time (1900) encurraged the wear of Kilts as being as being more Irish than the English fashons.

Further, I was watching a video about the IRA in the 1970s and the IRA had a bagpiper in a kilt at a funeral. If the IRA say that the bagpipe and kilt are Irish then I would accept it as having some truth to it.

Yeah the Plastic Paddies are sad, the Irishman who knows nothing about his own past is sadder still.

[GG]

Alan, your Irish "friend" wrote:

If you like wearing a kilt for the sake of wearing one, (I imagine this is the case)... Fair enough.

If that is what he believes, I wonder why he in the first place bothers to send you an email unless he himself has some interest in kilt wearing.
In my case, at least, he is absolutely right. I have neither Scottish nor Irish roots and I couldn’t care less whether men have been wearing kilts in Ireland or not. The fact that the kilt in Scotland is mostly formal wear does not bother me either.
I wear a kilt because I like to. I wear it because of the comfort and variety to my wardrobe and because it is different in what I shall call a good way.
When I buy a kilt in a certain tartan, it is because I like the colors, and Alan, I think your Irish National looks good. I might buy one myself some day.

People don’t laugh, really, seeing a man in a kilt. Your young “friend” must live on another planet. Not even in a country like mine where kilts are very very rare (Scotsmen and Irishmen drove west, not east) they will. When people address me they very seldom take me for a Scotsman. To them I’m just a Dane wearing a kilt. The way it is.
By the way I have German roots on both sides – some 120 years ago. Accordingly I could wear “Lederhosen”. I couldn’t even think of doing it.

Greg

www.dress2kilt.eu

[Kilted Rogue]

Well.
I'm from here, and I haven't been there...but my family did live there...and they didn't wear kilts, but I wear kilts...and one day I will go there, and I will wear a kilt, and when they ask why I am wearing a kilt....I will answer with a smile...because I want to wear a kilt and you only wished you wore a kilt.

I am from the USA and my wife and i where in Erie for a week on holiday. As we where walking around Dublin and seeing the sights i was getting the most peculiar looks. For the most part they were rather heated looks. I didnt let it bother me too much hell i was just in town for the day.

My 2 Cents

[cessna152towser]

As we where walking around Dublin and seeing the sights i was getting the most peculiar looks. For the most part they were rather heated looks.

I can't say I have ever experienced any animosity to the kilt while wearing it in Ireland, whether in Ulster or Eire, but it does draw more attention and starts more conversations than it does in Scotland where kilts are much more common.
Wearing my County Armagh tartan in County Armagh I have several times been asked what's the tartan, but yet to meet someone who recognised it as their own county tartan.

[irishcoloradoan]

This is a very interesting thread, and I'm interested to hear from those discussing the history of Irish/Scottish names. What about clan tartans like the Clarke which (to my eye) appear to be somewhat English names that are Irish-ized? My grandmother (who's mom was from NI) was insistent that even though our name was English we were Irish. She made a mean Ulster Fry too!

[macwilkin]

This is a very interesting thread, and I'm interested to hear from those discussing the history of Irish/Scottish names. What about clan tartans like the Clarke which (to my eye) appear to be somewhat English names that are Irish-ized? My grandmother (who's mom was from NI) was insistent that even though our name was English we were Irish. She made a mean Ulster Fry too!

A number of "Irish" family names are actually "Old English"; i.e. settlers in Ireland who came over after the Norman invasion. Over time, the "Old English" and Normans were assimilated into the larger Irish society.

T.

[Highland Logan]

A number of "Irish" family names are actually "Old English"; i.e. settlers in Ireland who came over after the Norman invasion. Over time, the "Old English" and Normans were assimilated into the larger Irish society.

T.

Lets not forget the plantations of the late 1600's early 1700's. Lots of Scots were brought over, as well as some English.

Frank