Interesting picture

[MizzouScotsman]

Ok, I found a picture that is as interesting as it is weird. It is an "old" looking picture and it has some writing on it mentioning dancers. I am looking to find out if anyone has any information on it. I am researching to find out as much as I can as the picture is, as I said, interesting. Here is the picture....

[figheadair]

I'd guess c1900 +/- 10 years. Looks military judging by the sporrans: London, Liverpool, Tyneside or Toronto Scottish perhaps.

[McClef]

It can only have been done as a joke, no way would they actually have been allowed to dance like that and it could have potentially been painful!

[Spartan Tartan]

This is what happens when military guys get bored...they find ways to amuse themselves.

[sydnie7]

"Salome" dancers plus their friends in the background holding up a blanket (to keep the higher-ups from seeing what's going on?). We've seen pix of one or two of these at a time, maybe this was a Guinness World Record attempt LOL

[plaid preacher]

No I have seen another picture like this, it was one of the Canadian regiments. I think as memory serves, at the beginning of the Second World War they were unable to get the material for kilts and therefore were forced to wear regulation military fatigues. I believe it was a protest by these proud highlanders to the lack of proper scale of issue. They had sporrans, but no kilts - just as the photo indicates.

If I have a few moments I will try to track down the photo I saw.

[MizzouScotsman]

It can only have been done as a joke, no way would they actually have been allowed to dance like that and it could have potentially been painful!

I'm thinking life threatening painful, especially if the sporran was full...lol

[McFarkus]

At least the large sporrans preserved a bit of modesty.

[de Stokesay]

I have been a member on this board for a while now but just haven't gotten around to actually posting yet. I tend to be a habitual lurker on internet fora. I am a regular kilt wearer though starting at the age of about 15. I started wearing my grandfathers' old (pre-1929) Black Watch army kilt but over time it shrank in my closet. I now wear one of Keltoi's lovely military box pleated kilts in HOE Fergusson. Love it!

Sorry for the off topic bit but felt that I ought to introduce myself before replying to this thread. On to the picture though.

Having served alongside various Canadian highland infantry regiments, back in my L.I. days, I believe that what this picture refers to is called a "sporran parade". This is often a form of protest but is sometimes just an expression of boredom.

Back in 1995, I was stationed at CFB Wainwright as staff on the sergeants' courses that summer and I was working with several highlanders of various regiments. When the candidates were not in the field most of the staff got weekend leave passes but on one particular weekend we all got leave passes except the highlanders. It turns out that the officers' mess was having a formal dinner and they needed servers so the highlanders got voluntold to be waiters as they had the coolest dress uniforms (this is another reason why I always "forgot" my dress uniform at home when off on summer tasking). Needless to say the highlanders were not thrilled with this development so they all showed up to serve at the appointed time and place (O-club) wearing nothing but their boots, hose, and sporrans, just like the picture above. It would appear that no-one specified which particular version of highland dress uniform (mess dress, walking out dress, &c.) was required so they used their initiative and did a sporran parade.

I believe this made for a rather interesting and somewhat distracting formal mess dinner but you can't charge everybody.

de Stokesay