Tartan Etiquette

[SorenMacTavish]

I never realized that clan came from a continuous male lineage. In my culture we claim from our mothers lineage. I will have to rethink my situation.
It is such a nice kilt

aonghas, I get the matrilineage thing, my mom is Inupiak and ancestry is traced through her side of the family. Which given that was how I was raised, is why I posed the question to the thread that I did...just to be sure before I venture out of the realm of the Confederate Memorial tartan and the recently purchased R'lyeh Sett fabric and into the clan tartan. Wanna be sure I make an informed decision for THAT purchase, as that I would be representing my lineage specifically.

[Jock Scot]

aonghas, I get the matrilineage thing, my mom is Inupiak and ancestry is traced through her side of the family. Which given that was how I was raised, is why I posed the question to the thread that I did...just to be sure before I venture out of the realm of the Confederate Memorial tartan and the recently purchased R'lyeh Sett fabric and into the clan tartan. Wanna be sure I make an informed decision for THAT purchase, as that I would be representing my lineage specifically.

Alright chaps, remember that I said the choice of ones tartan "USUALLY" follows the fathers line. I did not say always. There are reasons why people choose to follow another route and that is fine. It is a tad strange though if your surname is for example MacOnion and you are wearing a MacKarrot tartan and it can only lead one to wonder what is going on. I venture to suggest and speaking very generally, that choosing a tartan ahead of your father's tartan because you prefer the colour scheme of another tartan is regarded as rather shallow thinking, by many over here.

The dreaded two hour tartan justification lecture, complete with faded pictures of great aunt Morag's second cousin's cousin, so loved by visitors from outwith these shores just does not happen here with the locals -----thank goodness!

[Geoff Withnell]

Forgive an ignorant yank, but I thought, if the clan chief says you are a member of a clan, then you are, and would therefore be completely proper and correct wearing the clan tartan.


(emphasis added)

McTavish,

... Like primogeniture, the old rules are strict, but simple. Either your father and his father and his father hail from Clan X or you don't really have a claim to that tartan. Not your grandmother, not your grandfather's mother, not the name of your dog, favorite eatery, or the play you were in back in college. As has been said above, you may wear what you like. I believe Father bill has said it nicely, as have others, here and elsewhere. You may affiliate with clan associations or ask permission of chiefs or just stare down people who question you. But if you want to follow the rule, the rule is simple. Grafting other ideas onto the rule is what complicates things.

....

[MacLowlife]

Geoff, I am not innocent- sorry- and, coming from SC, "yank" has other connotations, but I appreciate your point, which is entirely correct. The point I was trying to make is that we choose tartan and justify our choices in many ways. I personally believe some of those ways are silly (as exemplified in 'the name of your dog') and of course, some of them are indisputable, as in asking permission of a chief or joining a clan. But where does that lead the uninitiated and unaffiliated? Well, it leads them back to deciding which clan to ask to join!

Clans have meant different things at different times. I know many people feel strong ties to their clans- possibly as strong as the ties of warriors of old. But in many cases, those strongly linked clan members have relatives who think they are nuts. Because they spend so much energy on something that means nothing at all to the similarly- connected relatives.

This thread has been a good place to talk about affiliation, both inherited and voluntary. A couple of good examples have come up of the commercialism of what we might call Tartan Loyalty and also its romantic, heartfelt aspects. We are doomed to bounce back and forth, between heritage and modernity, between being exploited and following our hearts, between tradition and the freedom of the New World. And now and then, we are handed a good story, not necessarily true, but a good story. Synthesizing all of that is sometimes difficult- it is often easier to choose a side and ignore those who disagree. But I think the whole picture is valuable and useful.

[BBNC]

We must remind ourselves of Jock's quote: "Let us not take ourselves too seriously"- Queen Elizabeth 11.

There will always be some who will look at others askance, and offer un-asked for advice, based upon how they personally feel about certain things. I might ask someone what the tartan they are wearing is, but would not presume to say they shouldn't wear it, especially when they are from a different culture (US vs. UK for example). There has been much written on here about the clan/tartan relationship and how relatively recently most of it came about. If I were in Scotland and saw a Scot wearing a kilt, I would assume he was correct according to his culture. An out-lander can show respect for another's culture without pointedly copying it.

[Geoff Withnell]

By ignorant Yank, I meant myself

Geoff, I am not innocent- sorry- and, coming from SC, "yank" has other connotations, but I appreciate your point, which is entirely correct. The point I was trying to make is that we choose tartan and justify our choices in many ways. I personally believe some of those ways are silly (as exemplified in 'the name of your dog') and of course, some of them are indisputable, as in asking permission of a chief or joining a clan. But where does that lead the uninitiated and unaffiliated? Well, it leads them back to deciding which clan to ask to join!

Clans have meant different things at different times. I know many people feel strong ties to their clans- possibly as strong as the ties of warriors of old. But in many cases, those strongly linked clan members have relatives who think they are nuts. Because they spend so much energy on something that means nothing at all to the similarly- connected relatives.

This thread has been a good place to talk about affiliation, both inherited and voluntary. A couple of good examples have come up of the commercialism of what we might call Tartan Loyalty and also its romantic, heartfelt aspects. We are doomed to bounce back and forth, between heritage and modernity, between being exploited and following our hearts, between tradition and the freedom of the New World. And now and then, we are handed a good story, not necessarily true, but a good story. Synthesizing all of that is sometimes difficult- it is often easier to choose a side and ignore those who disagree. But I think the whole picture is valuable and useful.

[David Thorpe]

...But where does that lead the uninitiated and unaffiliated? Well, it leads them back to deciding which clan to ask to join!...

Not necessarily. Seeking to join a clan solely because one likes and wants to wear the clan's tartan is rather cart-before-the-horse and trite, IMHO.
There are many beautiful non-clan-related tartans in virtually every hue from which one may choose without the slightest possibility of offence or question, without trivializing clan affiliation.

[PiperChick]

In regards to wearing a kilt from mother's or father's side, in the case of a female, is it safe to assume that when a woman gets married, she assumes the tartan of her new spouse (I always assumed so)? Would she still generally wear her "maiden" tartan interchangeably, or no? Would it matter in today's society, where women sometimes either keep their maiden name or hyphenate them?

[Jock Scot]

Good question. My wife wears "my" tartan to the exclusion of all others and I would say that is a traditional way of thinking in this part of the world. Interestingly, I cannot ever recall discussing it with her, it is something that just happens!

[Hawk]

I never realized that clan came from a continuous male lineage. In my culture we claim from our mothers lineage. I will have to rethink my situation.
It is such a nice kilt

Aonghas, and also remember that in our indigenous culture and traditions, we take forward all/both sides of out ancestors/family to remain in connection and to honor them......the stories continue, as does "The People"......

Hawk