A Cornish Hunting kilt

[Roderick Powell]

Thanks for clarifying , please can you clarify the symbolism of the yellow or gold ,and the blue ?.
Roddy

[JonathanB]

No need at all to apologise, Roddy. I take all this colour symbolism with a pinch of salt, but let me give a try. The yellow is the gorse on Bodmin Moor or round Land's End. The green (the predominant colour) for the heather. The blue for the sea which surrounds Cornwall on every side.

I'm looking down at my kilt now and, honest Rodders, I can't see any yellow or gold. I'll look again in the morning.

[James Hood]

Classy look, good on yer!

[Spartan Tartan]

No reason to apologise. To me, the red means it has a red stripe. I don't get overly concerned with symbolism of the colours. I wear that kilt myself, because it is (even if only recently) connected to my family heritage. So, it is more special to me that it reminds me of my grandfather than the specific meaning applied by the designer.

[davidlpope]

No need at all to apologise, Roddy. I take all this colour symbolism with a pinch of salt, but let me give a try. The yellow is the gorse on Bodmin Moor or round Land's End. The green (the predominant colour) for the heather. The blue for the sea which surrounds Cornwall on every side.

I'm looking down at my kilt now and, honest Rodders, I can't see any yellow or gold. I'll look again in the morning.

Isn't there a yellow/gold line between the black and the green?

[JonathanB]

There is indeed, like the gorse blooms among the green. What I can't make out is any blue.

I like the design whatever the alleged symbolism.

[JonathanB]

And I now saw in the cold light of day on the bus to East Croydon, that when the white is not running through black (ie St Piran) it is backed by blue (the sea?) or purple (the heather flower?). I'm not bothered by this colour symbolism either - it certainly wasn't a consideration with the earliest tartan designs.

I was rather concerned to find some marks on my new kilt after my bus journey. Someone helpfully suggested it was chewing gum and I needed to put the kilt in the freezer. Fortunately, I sponged it off when I got home. But it was a nasty turn.

[Jock Scot]

Alright the tartan/kilt is described as a "hunting tartan/kilt" and fair enough. So what is it that makes it a hunting tartan/kilt?

[JonathanB]

Haven't a clue, Jock. It just isn't Cornish National with its distinctive and variously regarded yellow.

Red for the fox's coat or huntsman's jacket? Green for the fields hunted over?

[Spartan Tartan]

The use of green as the dominant colour instead of yellow. Making the tartan more subdued.