Wearing kilts of other tartans than your clans.

[jusskippy]

Realizing that I'm a site newbie and that the most recent post in the thread is from before I joined, please excuse my reviving this thread so long after that last post, but I havent quite seen my situation addressed.

While I admire the Scottish people for their resilience, I am not Scottish in the least (by heritage, at least). My family is entirely Eastern European Jews. Seeing as how there is no Jewish tartan, nor is there a tartan for Germany, Russia, Poland, or Lithuania, I have no claim to a clan or district tartan (except the unofficial Virginia Tartan or the American Tartans).

I suppose I could claim the "clergy" tartan as a family tartan, since my surname is Cohen, which is Hebrew for "priest", but that seems a bit of a stretch ().

I married a Canadian woman, so I suppose I could even stretch to the Canadian Tartan, or the Tartan of her province, Ontario. Her late father, to whom I would like to show respect, was born in Ireland, but his surname was Anderson. Her mother's family was mainly French-Canadian, but her maternal grandmother married a MacDonald, who wore a MacDonald tartan kilt every day of his life.

Now, the real problem. Even though I have, as previously stated, no Scottish heritage, I feel like a bit of a traditionalist, and I also hate to feel as though I am showing disrespect to someone's family (even if they would never think of saying anything to me about it). Now, rejecting the idea of (shudder) not wearing the kilt, my dilemma is "what tartan to choose?" I would actually (i think) more like to hear from the traditionalists, understanding that there are differing viewpoints on this issue. I intend to (someday) buy a "tank", so I want that to be in a tartan that I feel comfortable wearing, without feeling that I am disrespecting anyone by my attire.

[gilmore]

If you do a search of this site, you will find a couple of long threads from a couple of years ago which discussed Jewish Scots (or Scottish Jews?) wearing the Gordon tartan. It has been associated with Jews for at least several decades, going by the photographic evidence, and perhaps longer. According to Arlen, our intrepid on the ground correspondent who lived in a Jewish section of Glasgow, this tradition continues to the present time. There are several stories as to how this association came about, all are interesting, and at least one is true.

Within the last year or so some one designed an allegedly Jewish tartan and has been trying to market it, but I don't know how well it is catching on.

[kiltimabar]

There is also a Virginia tartan, ITI 004060

[gilmore]

There is also a Virginia tartan, ITI 004060

Tue, but the Gordon tartan is much more readily available, and therefore less expensive.

[jusskippy]

Within the last year or so some one designed an allegedly Jewish tartan and has been trying to market it, but I don't know how well it is catching on.

Apparently, its actually an official tartan, recognized by the Scottish Tartans Authority:

http://www.jewishtartan.com/

The ITI number is 7615. The Tartan Authority says the alternate name is Logan, which may mean that it is shared with Clan Logan, but having visited Clan Logan's website, it doesnt appear that their tartan is anything like the Jewish Tartan. Additionally, the STA lists the copyright owner as Rabbi Mendel Jacobs, which I would imagine would not be the case if it were somehow shared with a clan. It's also a very handsome tartan, so I'm definitely considering it. Unfortunately, it will increase the cost of my "tank" quite a bit.

[gilmore]

Apparently, its actually an official tartan, recognized by the Scottish Tartans Authority:

http://www.jewishtartan.com/

The ITI number is 7615. The Tartan Authority says the alternate name is Logan, which may mean that it is shared with Clan Logan, but having visited Clan Logan's website, it doesnt appear that their tartan is anything like the Jewish Tartan. Additionally, the STA lists the copyright owner as Rabbi Mendel Jacobs, which I would imagine would not be the case if it were somehow shared with a clan. It's also a very handsome tartan, so I'm definitely considering it. Unfortunately, it will increase the cost of my "tank" quite a bit.

The fact that a tartan is registered with Scottish Tartan Authority has nothing whatsoever with its being "official" in any way. It merely means that the person who designed it took the trouble to register it.

What makes a tartan official is whether the governing authority of the entity it purports to represent has approved it. In the cases of clan tartans, that authority is the clan chief. In the cases of district tartans, that is the governing body of the country, state, shire, county, city, etc, of the district that that tartan purports to represent. In the cases of religious denominations that is the governing body of that denomination, and there is none for Judaism, as this tartan purports to represent. It is merely a fashion tartan designated as "Jewish" with an extremely recent provenance that is being marketing by some one who either has no sense of the history of Jewish tartan, or does and chooses to misrepresent it, as well as his tartan, to wit: "...it's 100% Kosher - being a non wool-linen mix..."

Has anyone ever heard of a linen blend tartan that the observant need to be protected from? I think not.

[Bugbear]

The fact that a tartan is registered with Scottish Tartan Authority has nothing whatsoever with its being "official" in any way. It merely means that the person who designed it took the trouble to register it.

What makes a tartan official is whether the governing authority of the entity it purports to represent has approved it. In the cases of clan tartans, that authority is the clan chief. In the cases of district tartans, that is the governing body of the state, shire, county, city, etc, of the district that that tartan purports to represent. In the cases of religious denominations that is the governing body of that denomination, and there is none for Judaism, as this tartan purports to represent. It is merely a fashion tartan designated as "Jewish" with an extremely recent provenance that is being marketing by some one who either has no sense of the history of Jewish tartan, or does and chooses to misrepresent it, as well as his tartan, to wit: "the only Scottish born Rabbi living in Scotland, it's 100% Kosher - being a non wool-linen mix..."

Has anyone ever heard of a linen blend tartan that the observant need to be protectd from? I think not.

That's a good point, Gilmore. If there is already an historacal association between a tartan and the Jewish faith or culture, then something like this is more of an insult than official. If there were no tartan historically associated, then maybe it could become generally accepted; especially if it were recognisable to those in the faith or culture. Everything starts somewhere...

It's not a tartan, but I seem to recall a discussion of a certain color of kilt being associated with Buddhism because of the color's symbolic conection; I can't recall the specific details, though. Something on that line.

[gilmore]

That's a good point, Gilmore. If there is already an historacal association between a tartan and the Jewish faith or culture, then something like this is more of an insult than official. If there were no tartan historically associated, then maybe it could become generally accepted; especially if it were recognisable to those in the faith or culture. Everything starts somewhere...

It's not a tartan, but I seem to recall a discussion of a certain color of kilt being associated with Buddhism because of the color's symbolic conection; I can't recall the specific details, though. Something on that line.

Do you mean this:



and this:

[Colonel MacNeal]

The fact that a tartan is registered with Scottish Tartan Authority has nothing whatsoever with its being "official" in any way. It merely means that the person who designed it took the trouble to register it.

What makes a tartan official is whether the governing authority of the entity it purports to represent has approved it. In the cases of clan tartans, that authority is the clan chief. In the cases of district tartans, that is the governing body of the country, state, shire, county, city, etc, of the district that that tartan purports to represent. In the cases of religious denominations that is the governing body of that denomination, and there is none for Judaism, as this tartan purports to represent. It is merely a fashion tartan designated as "Jewish" with an extremely recent provenance that is being marketing by some one who either has no sense of the history of Jewish tartan, or does and chooses to misrepresent it, as well as his tartan, to wit: "...it's 100% Kosher - being a non wool-linen mix..."

Has anyone ever heard of a linen blend tartan that the observant need to be protected from? I think not.

Perhaps it was a typo for "Golan". Same letters.

[Kilted in Maine]

Seeing as how there is no Jewish tartan, nor is there a tartan for Germany, Russia, Poland, or Lithuania, I have no claim to a clan or district tartan

Don't speak too fast. there are, in fact tartans for some of the above...

http://www.scottishtartans.org/german.htm

http://www.polishculture.co.uk/index...tent&task=view