First post with a big question

[Pat Magee]

[QUOTE=Ward;693085]Hello to all. This is my first posting. I am not Scottish. I am of Irish ancestry. Counties Donegal and Galway. A very close friend of mine and a member of this website, have been having a lot of discussions and doing lots of research about the Irish and kilts. I know traditionally the Irish did not wear kilts but it seems to be very common to associate the Irish with wearing kilts, too. Is this just an American thing or a marketing stunt? I would love to join my Scottish brothers around town and events wearing a Irish tartan kilt which I also know are not traditional, but I also don't want to look like an idiot either. You know, "Look at that dork with the Irish kilt. The Irish don't even wear kilts". Or should I just say the heck with it, be myself and say I'm not Scottish but I like to wear kilts and I'm Irish so I thought it made sense to wear Irish colors. Anyway we're all of Celtic descent anyways, right? Let me know your opinion. What do the Scottish have to say about this?

[REPLY/I'm Irish too and have the same questions as yourself. I've just sent this email on joining: "Thanks for the welcome. I'm wondering just how tolerant you guys can be as I'm not a Scot but an Irishman, though one of my national flags, like yours, is the saltire cross, a red one on a white background.

I hope I may have the hospitality of your site to find out more about the kilt. There is, I'm sure you know, a saffron Irish kilt which still survives as the dress of pipers in the Royal Irish Rangers. The use of saffron and the wearing of Irish traditional dress was banned by Henry VIII in 1537 and by his daughter Elizabeth I for the same reasons as Scottish highland dress was forbidden after Culloden in 1762 (?), and so I hope at the very least to be joining a community of sympathetic men who want to assert their right to wear their traditional dress when they want to!

Didn't mean to get heavy but just to put the facts foremost. Glad to be aboard.

Pat Magee"

If I could work the technology or knew your email address I'd send you a photo of the traditional Irish saffron kilt. ]

[Detroitpete]

Welcome!!!!

Aye--where what you like and enjoy it. I hope you find this forum helpful and friendly.

[BEEDEE]

from coastal North Carolina.

A lot of the Northern Irish are of Scots descent from when England sent people to the Plantations there. The county tartans are certainly a modern occurrence, but as a District tartans are valid wear for anyone.

Brian

[Carolina Kiltman]

- From the Cape Fear River Valley, NC - -

Quit worrying, just gopherfit!

[Kilt_Noob]

Hello and Welcome from Savannah, GA!
My wife's side is from Donegal County, my side is from Sligo County. My only kilt is Sligo Cty. But from what I was told, the blood lines between the Irish, Scots, and English are all blurred anyway, very few people are pure anything. So if you know your family's from that area-there's your excuse if you need one. But otherwise, don't feel like you owe anyone an explanation as to why your wearing a kilt!

Sligo County Coat of Arms tartan

Me wearing Sligo Tartan

[Gibbs]

Hello and welcome from So Cal, near Palm Springs, CA.

[Flag Folder]

Greetings and Welcome from the High Desert of Southern California.



Bruce

[jgorley]

Tony,

I knew I could get you to post eventually! See I was telling the truth. Don the kilt and don't worry about what others "might" say. I would love to see the guy with the stones to mock a kilted man with so many backers at a festival. Myself, I would be way intimidated by many a guy in kilt. Take the wedding we just attended. Look how many people stopped and talked to me because I was kilted. Heck, even the bride thanked me for wearing it. Not once did I get a negative comment. Of course I think the idiots stupid enough to think the negative are also just smart enough not to say it aloud. Take the advice and either order one, or post a want add. Wait! If you start wearing one....then...I will not be the only one kilted in Kelso!

James

ps: Hold on, befor I get the routine, I will post pics, hopefully this weekend!

[gilmore]

Hello to all. This is my first posting. I am not Scottish. I am of Irish ancestry. Counties Donegal and Galway. A very close friend of mine and a member of this website, have been having a lot of discussions and doing lots of research about the Irish and kilts. I know traditionally the Irish did not wear kilts but it seems to be very common to associate the Irish with wearing kilts, too. Is this just an American thing or a marketing stunt? ...

Yes, a bit of both.

But if you wear a kilt in most "Irish" contexts in the US, very,very few would know otherwise. On the other side of the ocean, it's a different story.

...What do the Scottish have to say about this?

The Scots who post here are far too well mannered to answer that question.

[Dr Mac]

from Bryan/College Station