Black Watch kilt in Northern Ireland?

[Chris Ellison]

Hello all,

I'm Chris, a Scotch-Irish American history teacher living in the Netherlands. I have a Black Watch kilt I sometimes wear for formal occasions like weddings and the like. This summer I have a wedding I'm attending in Northern Ireland. Taking care for the sensitivities of others I wanted to ask the forum: would there be any problem with wearing my Black Watch in Northern Ireland considering the possible military association?

Thanks for any advice.

[cessna152towser]

Depends on where you are travelling in Northern Ireland. I would expect that a Black Watch kilt would be safe anywhere, with the possible exception of one or two Catholic/Republican areas in Belfast or Londonderry. I have one grandparent from Northern Ireland and when visiting relatives in Lurgan and Portadown I have frequently worn a kilt, including travelling through Belfast. I have usually worn my County Armagh tartan, which few of the inhabitants of the county actually recognise as their tartan. I attended a ninetieth birthday party in Lurgan Castle, the world headquarters of the Loyal Orange Lodge wearing my Cunningham tartan kilt. I have never had any sectarian problems with the kilt. The kilt certainly catches the Irish eye and you will get plenty of comments, all of them friendly.

[ASinclair]

Hello, Chris!

[Phil]

from Edinburgh. I have seen a few kilted weddings in Northern Ireland when over there. I wouldn't concern yourself about wearing your kilt and I am sure nobody there would have a clue what tartan you are wearing anyway.

[Grizzly]

Welcome Chris from Southampton.

[John_Carrick]

I do not encounter problems in any area when kilted here. People do not tend to recognise tartans or associate them with anything other than Scotland, Ulster Scots heritage and pipe bands. Kilted weddings are very common here.
The 2013 year of culture in Derry/Londonderry saw a greater integration and appreciation of different traditions than ever (e.g. pipe bands one week, the Fleadh the next).

[mattie]

Welcome to XMTS. I say wear what you want! Of course you are conversing with a man that wore a Campbell kilt in Newtonmore Scotland best regards Mattie. ith:

[Hawk]

Being this is your first posting......welcome to the XMTS Community. I believe others are knowledgeable about this, so I'd listen rather carefully....

Hawk

[O'Callaghan]

No real life experience with Northern Ireland. In fact I try to avoid it, although I have been to Ireland, the independent country. Sorry if that offends anyone, but I am Englishman of Southern Irish descent, and have both Irish Catholics and English (Anglican) Protestants in my family tree, so I figure both sides could potentially think I am one of the other lot! I don't know which area is which, and with my background they could both potentially be the wrong one! Actually, I am an atheist, but that brings to mind Dave Allen's old Northern Ireland joke "But are you a Catholic Jew or a Protestant Jew?". Well, that's just upset a whole load of other people, but my point is just substitute atheist instead of Jew, and it pretty much still works.

As it is, the loyalists (the people who want Northern Ireland to remain in the UK) are predominantly (although not exclusively) of Scottish Presbyterian origin. Some Republicans (that is, nationalists, not the GOP!) may possibly associate kilts with loyalism, due to the Scottish connection. OTOH, I know for sure that some Catholics (who tend to be Republican) have been known to wear kilts, particularly some Catholic Boy Scout bands march in them, or at least have done in the past, but solid colour, not tartan. The 'wrong' kilt in the wrong place might be a problem, but never having been there I'm not sure where the 'wrong' place might be. It may well be much safer than I think, especially as the 'Troubles' are supposed to have ended, but why take a chance?

Anyway, the Black Watch is now (I think) the 42nd Division of the Royal Scottish Regiment, who have their own regimental tartan, and they wear that one. This means that no-one in the British Army now wears the Black Watch tartan, only civilians. I don't even know whether they were even posted there, but it is possible that some people might recognise it as the old "government sett', despite the fact that most people wherever you go can't tell one sett from another. Even if they don't know that much (they probably don't) they can at least identify whether your kilt is tartan or solid, and may form some (almost certainly) erroneous conclusions based on that.

I have taken no political position here. This is all about safety issues. Those who have actually been there say it is safe, except possibly in certain areas. Not knowing where those areas are, I don't think I'd do it.

FWIW, the independent part of Ireland is as safe as houses.

[John_Carrick]

No real life experience with Northern Ireland.

That is very clear.

1.7 million people, with very few exceptions, are striving to make a happy, normal, prosperous, shared society. It gets better and better here, even if the process is not always linear.

Our friends from across the pond should come and see the place and then judge it. Wear your kilt if you want to and spend a few dollars around the place.

John