wearing other family tartan rather than your own

[RockyR]

Interesting to read different points of view from different Scots on the question. Thank you to both Jock and Jock for both points of view. Seems to be differing opinions on both sides of the pond.

[JockInSkye]

Interesting to read different points of view from different Scots on the question. Thank you to both Jock and Jock for both points of view. Seems to be differing opinions on both sides of the pond.

I think generational differences come into play aswell Rocky.

[Jock Scot]

I think generational differences come into play aswell Rocky.

I think you are quite right there and without sounding too much of a boring old codger, in my experiance(sorry to sound patronising young Jock!) many thirty year old kilt wearing "rebels" become forty five year old staunch traditionalists! However, in the long run it is almost inevitable that traditions change and perhaps young Jock's generation will do the changing? Good luck to you laddie, it is your generation's future that matters, not mine!

[denmcdough]

Jock Scot, you are definitely wrong....you DO matter!!!!!! We all matter.

[Jock Scot]

Jock Scot, you are definitely wrong....you DO matter!!!!!! We all matter.

Don't worry laddie I am not planning bowing out just yet! But at the age of three score years and ten, plus a wee tad, one does have to face an unpalatable and inevitable fact! You are quite right though, we all do matter!

Nevertheless it is a young person's world, it always has been, and whilst us old codgers may be able to assist in some small way with their experience, it seems that the younger generation are determined, however much they deny it(I did!), to make some of the same mistakes that we did and our ancestors probably did! However these youngsters do come with fresh inquiring minds and amaze the world with some new progressive idea that astounds us all and that is great and it is also necessary! So I will stick with trying to pass on what I know----a little bit about kilts perhaps--- for as long as people are willing to listen and that is fine by me and I have absolutely no doubts whatsoever that in 40 years time the likes of Young Jock will say exactly what I am saying!.

[BoldHighlander]

hi all as i wear the murray tartan my question is , is it allright to wear someone else tartan just for the sake you like the colors and style of the plaid? is it wrong or do you need permission? any comments. i have not done this yet but ofthen think of it as there are kilts i really like but are not my own clan colors

I'm of the opinion that you can wear whatever takes your fancy (as long as it is not a restricted tartan). However, if you wear another clan's tartan then please know a little bit about it & wear it with honour and dignity.

As for myself, I'm with Ron (Riverkilt) in that since I have a number of known & researched family connections to the Highlands & Islands of Scotland, I'd feel a bit unease at wearing another clan's tartan that I have no connection to.

As I'm very connected to the Clan Donald through genealogy, I find that wearing that clan's tartan(s) is more than sufficient for me.

I also agree with Jock that if you intend to wear another clan's tartan that it would be the courteous (& proper) thing to do to ask permission (rather you receive a reply or not).

I hope this helps in some small way.

[OC Richard]

I'm of the opinion that you can wear whatever takes your fancy (as long as it is not a restricted tartan). However, if you wear another clan's tartan then please know a little bit about it

Good advice, and I always do that, being into tartan history.

What amazes me all the time is how many people are members of clans and proudly wear their clan tartan all the time, but know nothing about the tartan itself. They have no idea that some of our modern clan tartans can be dated back to the early 18th century, that others started out as numbered tartans in the late 18th or early 19th century, that others were invented by two English poseurs/charlatans.

[Tobus]

I also agree with Jock that if you intend to wear another clan's tartan that it would be the courteous (& proper) thing to do to ask permission (rather you receive a reply or not).

I tend to agree that it would be the courteous and proper thing to do, to ask permission. But if you receive no reply, is it still courteous and proper to go ahead and wear it anyway? In other words, why ask at all if the answer is irrelevant?

[davidlpope]

I tend to agree that it would be the courteous and proper thing to do, to ask permission. But if you receive no reply, is it still courteous and proper to go ahead and wear it anyway? In other words, why ask at all if the answer is irrelevant?

A brief anecdote may be helpful:

After I decided that I wanted the wonderful woman whom I had been dating for many years to be my bride, I paid a call on my future in-laws unbeknowst to Jeannie. During the visit I asked their blessing to marry their daughter. I didn't have to do this and I didn't ask for their permission. If Jeannie had not consented to marry me then her parent's opinions would have been irrelevant. But then (and still now) I felt like it is the courteous, proper, and gentlemanly thing to do.

In the same way, you may not have to ask a clan chief's permission to buy a kilt in his clan tartan and wear it, but in my mind you should, if said chief hasn't previously given a blanket permission that would include you (i.e. by surname, blood, etc.). Perhaps old-fashioned, perhaps "unnecessary", but nice and proper by my way of thinking...

And if you don't get a response from your request? Well, I still think that your making the overture is still worth the effort.

David

[Mike_Oettle]

Well put, David. My thinking has been on the same lines.
Regards,
Mike