When and where did you see your first kilt?

[unixken]

As a newbie to this web site, I've been reading a lot of posts, trying to absorb all the kilt-karma I can before my first kilt arrives (expected in about 6 weeks.)

While reading, I some times notice, or look for, where some of the posters live, or note comments they make in their posts, and I wonder when and where some of us first saw a kilt and thought "that is so cool!"

Myself, I can say it was back in the late 60's. My family and I were vacationing in Ottawa. My father took us to see the Changing Of The Guard ceremony, at Parliament Hill. I was probably about 6 or so, at the time. I knew we were of Scottish ancestry, but had never before seen a kilt (or bagpipes!), other than perhaps in some old photographs. To see them pass right in front of me, in all their regimental glory, was something I've never forgotten.

Several years later I was privileged to see a performance by The Black Watch, and again, I was enthralled.

Today I'm 50 years old, and have decided that it's finally time I take that intrigue I felt as a kid, to a whole new level. My order has been placed. And now I wait... LOL

So what's your "first time I saw a kilt and knew this was something special" story?

[Peter Crowe]

I honestly can't remember, as my father was always a man who wore the kilt from boyhood, and I got my first kilt (with a cotton bodice) when I was three years old sometime in late 1969 early 1970.

[unixken]

Oh, and Peter... I was born on the South Shore of Mass. (Born in Weymouth, grew up in Quincy and Braintree.)

[Bugbear]

Wish I could remember, but it would have been when I was a kid. I do seem to remember having seen pipers wearing kilts at events a few times. Other than that, it would have been in pictures and movies etc.

[NeightRG]

This would have been before the age of five, so there's a good chance the story is nowhere near accurate, but the first time that I have any memory of seeing kilts in person, I was at a shopping center with my mother and our neighbor from down the street, when a pipe band marched through the place.
Funny thing is, I strongly remember being hurried away from the band... Presumably to save my young ears from the loud volume, because my mum definitely has no problem with bagpipe music.

[Peter Crowe]

Oh, and Peter... I was born on the South Shore of Mass. (Born in Weymouth, grew up in Quincy and Braintree.)

Indeed, kilts are not often seen around here (Lynn), I grew up with them in Scotland.

[John McQuillen]

Probably sometimes in the first few years of my life.....by age 13 I was wearing my own as part of school uniform.

[rondo]

I'd seen a few on pipers and in pictures but it was not until I was in Dunoon, Scotland [Navy] that i saw my first kilt in the wilds...

I knew we were of Scottish decent but it wasn't until then that the kilt bug bit me. Then it took 20 some years before I got my first kilt.
Rondo

[T-Bone]

My grandfather showed me his kilt and pipes when I was a teen. I probably seen them before in movies, but getting to feel the heavy wool in hand is quite a bit more special. I wore that kilt a few times until college, then the "freshman 40" hit and I soon outgrew the 30" waist.

[gary meakin]

"first time I saw a kilt and knew this was something special"

My Uncle Bill

I was 7 or 8 years old when I first noticed his uniqueness. He would show up at family gatherings dressed unlike everyone else.

Over the years I watched the other grown-ups go through some major fashion changes: bell bottoms, puffy sleeved shirts, white belts and shoes, and {shudder} the leisure suit.

Through it all he showed up in his Highland regalia never going out of style no matter what the others wore.

I admired him for having the guts to wear the kilt and endure the “friendly” jibes from his peers and the sometimes sideways glances from his nieces and nephews.

I also thought he was the sharpest looking guy in the crowd. And no one was prouder of their Scottish heritage than he. His love for all things Scottish was quite evident.

It wasn’t until about 35 years later I attended my first highland games and saw thousands of people dressed like him, bagpipes playing, highland dancers dancing, fiddlers fiddling, cabers being tossed around. This is the stuff he was talking about all those years.

I got my kilt after that first highland games and I wear it to family functions like my Uncle Bil did (and still does).

So now we both endure those “friendly” jibes from our peers and the sometimes sideways glances from our nieces and nephews.

But now I’m ready to carry the torch when he’s ready to pass it.