Two Tartans?

[Jamie McP]

Interesting discussion. I can not help but remember that J. Charles Thompson in his "So You're Going to Wear the Kilt" says, "Also any relationship is good enough, on your mother's side as well as your father's." (page 30)

[David Thorpe]

Interesting discussion. I can not help but remember that J. Charles Thompson in his "So You're Going to Wear the Kilt" says, "Also any relationship is good enough, on your mother's side as well as your father's." (page 30)

Context is everything. If your father's side has no connection, then your mother's side would be an acceptable choice.

[TheOfficialBren]

Context is everything. If your father's side has no connection, then your mother's side would be an acceptable choice.

That's very true, as is Jamie's post with regard to "So You're..." [Page 30] and tartans.

Context is key. Make the decision that sits most comfortably with your heart. We like to fuss over it a lot, I know, but minutiae is the purpose of the board.



Truthfully, most tartans are modern inventions (as in the last 200 years or so) and assigned by random naming having previously been (in many cases) merely fashionable numbered patterns.
These are fact without the romance that the Victorians ascribed to tartan (from whom we have inherited it).

Still, what started out as something contrived became a tradition.

[Alan H]

Which one do you like better? Wear that one.

If you like them both, then get some kit in both tartans. I would suggest not mixing them, though. Yes, certainly in the mid 1700's, men of means might have a kilt or breeches in one pattern and a waistcoat in another, but it's not 1740, it's 2013 and combining plaids is, IMHO a visual nightmare.

As for being "proper", don't get me started.

[Grizzly]

Context is everything. If your father's side has no connection, then your mother's side would be an acceptable choice.

It certainly is David. I have no connection on my paternal side but I have been accepted personally by the Chief of Clan Cameron (Lochiel) and by the Clan Cameron association through my maternal line.

[creagdhubh]

It certainly is David. I have no connection on my paternal side but I have been accepted personally by the Chief of Clan Cameron (Lochiel) and by the Clan Cameron association through my maternal line.

And rightly so!

[OC Richard]

To be REALLY old-fashioned (Iron Age) you could trace your ancestry through the maternal line like the ancient Picts.

Did the Gaels strictly trace through the paternal line? What about the Norse?

[OC Richard]

Setting aside genealogical considerations for a moment, and strictly viewing it from the perspective of traditional Highland Dress, the mixing of tartans upon the same person was the norm.

Here are The MacDonald Children. Note that each garment is its own unique pattern. Highlanders of that time would not comprehend a discussion such as we've been having here, because each web of tartan that came off the loom was a unique artistic creation of the weaver with no significance whatsoever.



This old traditional way of doing things (like so many others) is maintained to this day in the Army: