tartans

[filman]

Can anyone wear a tartan from a differnt clan than their own?

[Iolaus]

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer... Oh, it just gets too complicated, and I'm tired. There will be plenty of opinions on this subject, but there's really no rules, just suggestions.

There seems to be an underlying feeling with some that the whole Tartan/Clan thing is an semi-artificial construct. The general feeling is that you should at least know something about the tartan you're wearing, and be respectful of it.

Good night.

[Mike1]

The bottom line is that you should wear ANY tartan with respect to the family that tartan represents.

[Robin]

I'll not wear a clan tartan, I'm not a clanmember, I'm no sept either.
I know I can wear about any tartan, but that doesn't feel right. I'll stick to general, national, district, fashion and Dutch tartans. Maybe in the future I'll ask a clanchief (Mackay) for permission to wear their tartan, but without permission...nope.

Waiting for:
Caledonia(mod) ITI No.1356: December 2005
Isle of Skye ITI No.5284: March 2006
Tartan of Holland ITI No.6655: May 2006 (pre-ordered)

In the pipeline/wishlist:
Veere ITI No.2670
a Freedom kilt
Dutch Dress ITI No.1133
Dutch District ITI No.1134

Enough to keep me busy for 2 or 3 years :-D

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Filman,

Very few people actually "own" a tartan. Those that do usually do so for commercial purposes (I own a woolen mill, I design and copyright a tartan so that I can be the sole supplier, etc.). Sometimes a private individual will design and copyright a personal tartan, because he wants to limit its use to himself or his family.

But the vast majority of tartans don't fit into this category. I only mention it, because we tend to speak of "my tartan" and "your tartan" and it can get confusing as to just what these terms mean. Usually what we do is "adopt" a pre-existing traditional tartan for our own purposes.

Now, most of the time, we choose to wear a tartan that we beleive has some relavance to our ancestry or heritage. If you beleive that eight generations ago, your family was a part of the Clan MacDonald, who am I to argue? You may be right or wrong in your assumption, but you beleive this is the clan you descend from, so you choose to wear their tartan. You don't "own" it, but you choose to wear it.

So there are no rules about what tartan you can and cannot wear. But the standard practice is to select a tartan that has some signifigance for you, be it a clan, family, district or some other type of tartan.

Aye,
Matt

[filman]

Thanks for all the info. This is why I asked , when I was younger an older gent that was kilted told me not to get a tartan that was not of my clan.
As I am of Irish desent other than some county and national tartans, I do not know of many tartans that I can feel comfortable in. As a Marine I will be getting the Leatherneck tartan,as for other special tartans like the Black Watch I feel that I should not own or wear them for I have not earned the right. I do not know what Dutch tartans are. Agian thankyou for your info and for your help.