Ethics and courtesies of branching into other tartans?

[dcommini]

Go for it! The Freemasons' Universal Tartan has very nice blue and royal purple, which is certainly a handsome and interesting choice. https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/ta...tails?ref=1279

Note that nothing in the GL of Utah website (the originator of the tartan) or the entry in the register of tartans says that the Freemason Universal tartan is restricted to Masons only. One could make the argument that it's like wearing a Masonic ring: Master Masons only (wives of Masons get a pass), but nothing anywhere I've read actually says that. Seeing as you are (or claim to be) a Mason, this point is moot for you; I'm simply making it for others who read about this tartan.

I looked into getting the Freemason Tartan back upon my raising, but I just don't care for the color scheme. I think I'll just stick to my ring - unlike some Brothers I know who go with an S&C kilt pin, belt, belt buckle, sgian dubh, tie. I'm almost certain they'd fix their aprons to their aprons if they could figure out how to do it.

[imbrius]

I looked into getting the Freemason Tartan back upon my raising, but I just don't care for the color scheme. I think I'll just stick to my ring - unlike some Brothers I know who go with an S&C kilt pin, belt, belt buckle, sgian dubh, tie. I'm almost certain they'd fix their aprons to their aprons if they could figure out how to do it.

Most of the kilted brothers around here not in a pipe band wear either a family / district tartan, the Wisconsin state tartan, or the Freemason universal. Pipers around here seem to have all standardized on Royal Stewart so they end up looking like a rather noisy pile of Walker's shortbread biscuits.

FTR, the only Masonic kilt kit I have is a silver sporran chain that I really only wear to black tie events with the evening dress sporran.

[Farmer Jones]

Most of the kilted brothers around here not in a pipe band wear either a family / district tartan, the Wisconsin state tartan, or the Freemason universal. Pipers around here seem to have all standardized on Royal Stewart so they end up looking like a rather noisy pile of Walker's shortbread biscuits.

FTR, the only Masonic kilt kit I have is a silver sporran chain that I really only wear to black tie events with the evening dress sporran.

Yes, most wear family or district tartans. I wear Grand Lodge of Canada for formal occasions. It is a quite beautiful, principally red and blue, with stripes of gold and pale blue, but it is not a universal tartan.

[Bad Monkey]

Most of the kilted brothers around here not in a pipe band wear either a family / district tartan, the Wisconsin state tartan, or the Freemason universal. Pipers around here seem to have all standardized on Royal Stewart so they end up looking like a rather noisy pile of Walker's shortbread biscuits.

FTR, the only Masonic kilt kit I have is a silver sporran chain that I really only wear to black tie events with the evening dress sporran.

FWIW, Walker's uses the Grant tartan on their packaging...

[OC Richard]

Pipers around here seem to have all standardized on Royal Stewart...

Being a piper myself, this interests me.

Do you mean Masonic pipers? Non-Masonic solo pipers? Local pipe bands?

I've been in the pipe band scene over 40 years and I've noticed how each regional Pipe Band scene tends to develop a distinctive fashion culture.

For sure if you go back a half-century pipe bands the world over tended to wear one of a small number of different tartans, such as Royal Stewart, Gordon, MacLean of Duart, etc.

But the trend in recent decades has been for bands to move away from those old standards, from old military and Clan tartans, and go with modern tartans such as fashion tartans, commemorative tartans, and bespoke tartans.

Now I'll have to Google bands in your area and see what's going on with them!

EDIT: a quick Google of Milwaukee pipe bands showed

Greater Milwaukee Police & Fire: blue & red tartan
Milwaukee Scottish: Isle Of Skye tartan
Celtic Nations: claret & green tartan
Shamrock Club: plain (non-tartan) green kilts
Billy Mitchell: green & blue tartan (probably Mitchell)

[imbrius]

Being a piper myself, this interests me.

Do you mean Masonic pipers? Non-Masonic solo pipers? Local pipe bands?

I did specifically mean Masonic pipers. I should have been clearer. Sorry. The local Shrine has a Highland unit with a pipe band and most Masonic pipers in the area belong to it. Even the ones that don't also seem to adopt the Royal Stewart tartan, if only to fit in and/or borrow gear from time to time.

[Highwayman]

The local Shrine has a Highland unit with a pipe band and most Masonic pipers in the area belong to it. Even the ones that don't also seem to adopt the Royal Stewart tartan, if only to fit in and/or borrow gear from time to time.

Ironically, I'm actually a regular at this exact group's Tartan Ball each year and have gotten close with their membership. We all did a pub crawl this year, wives in gowns, us all in Prince Charlie...All Royal Stewart, and me standing out like Cousin Oliver in my Farquharson. The band at my home Shrine, Medinah down in Chicago, wears MacMillan with the same uniformity. I pointed out the MacMillan to my girlfriend and said those were my Shrine colors if I chose to wear them. She replied only with the word 'No.'

[Jock Scot]

`Like many things in life, what we can do is one thing and what we should do is entirely another matter and kilts and accompanying kilt attire are no different. The two obvious "its not done" type things are, mixing different Clan tartans and wearing a different Clan badge to the Clan tartan that you are wearing in kilt form. Another, would be wearing a tartan tie when wearing the kilt. To us Scottish traditionalists these examples are avoided and actually indicate to us that the kilt wearer doing these things does not know the "form".

To many who do not know the "form" and particularly those new to kilt wearing and often, not always, from outwith Scotland who are understandably, not aware of the potential minefields. Added to which and as useful and informative as this website most certainly is, the water often gets "muddied" by differing points of view, which may, or may not be, based on firm foundations.