When you put on your Clan's colours you are putting on your family's history. The kilt should always be worn with dignity and with an understanding and observation of the tradition it represents. It is a uniform and an icon. People normally take immense care in correctly wearing the kilt and that is what it deserves because men have died in war wearing it and men and women suffered death, trasportation, privation and hardship because the tartan was their native wear and they refused to obey the 18th century ban on tartan promulgated by the Hanovarian Government after the 1745 Jacobite Rising failed.

The kilt of today (the feileadh beag) is a stylized version of the ancient belted plaid, the feileadh mar -- which was belted at the waist and had the ends coming back over the shoulders. Highlanders in battle used to throw off their long plaids and fight in their shirts. Being pure wool, it was also a superb garb for campaigning in that a warrior could wrap himself in it like a blanket. The pleated kilt is the dress for dinners, parties, festive occasions, specifically Highland type events, such as ceilidhs (concerts) or Highland Games. It is also worn by the Piping bands. It is a masculine form of dress. Ladies may wear pleated skirts or other forms of the tartan, but the true kilt is meant to be worn by men. The modern kilt ensemble is completed by tweed jacket for day wear, and a black or dark-coloured jacket (usually velvet) in evening dress. These evening jackets have become very ornamental with silver buttons, instead of hamely deer-horn. Some are worn with high collars or a lace jabot at the neck (and may I mention, as an appreciative female, how very striking and handsome this outfit is?).

The sporran, the little pouch hanging in front of the kilt, has also become ornamental. It was originally a purse and used for keeping bullets or personal objects in. Nowadays it could be money or credit cards. Normally, a brown sporan is worn during the day, a black one for evening wear and, in response to modern ecological and environmental pressure (especially here in California), the materials have moved from badger, seal, deer or goat skin to mundane cowhide or even artificial materials. The word sporran is the Gaelic for pouch or purse. The decorated belts that the sporran is worn on have become popular and the designs of the buckles often include ancient insignia .

The kilt-pin is a 19th century innovation, sometimes attributed to Queen Victoria's desire for modesty (poor thing must have been shocked by the odd flying kilt of the Highland dancers!) Shorts or pants are worn by most men under the kilt these days, but in the past nothing was worn, and the regiments still wear nothing under the kilt, with the exception of Highland dancers, or some sentries on public duty (though I have seen one photo on the net which proves that this custom is not universally applied). Stockings are now modern in design, but mirror the hose of the 18th and 19th centuries. The dark brogue shoes (from the Gaelic brog), are dotted with a design which looks like little holes and which tell of the days when the deer-hide footwear had holes punched in them to let the water run out after the wearer had crossed burns and rivers. Note: An interesting example of word-change crops up here. The Gaelic word cas, means foot. Highland Migrants in North America explained to the Indians that their shoes were mo casan, ''my footwear''. The Indian word moccasin for rawhide footwear is believed to derive from that.

Hats are normally beret-type known as Balmorals, a link with the famous blue-bonnets or Glengarries, which are more of a fore-and-aft style and which sometimes have a diced-design. Clan badges, surrounded by a belt-and-buckle motif, are some times worn on them. The diced design, known as the cheeky, derives from an old pattern of accountancy which evolved into the modern word Exchequer ,and which is linked to the Stewart family and clan who became Stewards of Scotland (okay, they also put out the odd royal or two).

The little knife tucked into the stocking on the right leg is the sgian dubh (pronounced skee-an doo), or black knife, and is nowadays purely ornamental. In the past it was a skinning knife. It is not a dirk, a long dagger, which was used in war. Sometimes ornamental dirks, attached to a belt, are worn as part of evening dress.

All this talk of male attire does not mean that the ladies were forgotten. Women of old wore a kind of plaid which evolved into our modern shawl. The sash or shawl is fixed by a broach to the left shoulder of the dress, one end crossing the back and the other across the breast, and both ends knotted at the right side. Dancers may wear a sash fixed at the shoulder but with both ends trailing behind (this is for convience when dancing). Day dresses are usually white cotton. Evening gowns may be of dark colours and have tartan skirts (made of appropriate fabric... Has anyone found MacGregor tartan in silk or satin?)

Now, a word about the tartan itself. Tartan is now universally thought of as woolen fabric of kilts woven in bands of coloured yarn which repeat in a sequence not only across the width but down the length of the cloth. A new shade is formed wherever bands of a different colour cross. A rich and elaborate appearance is achieved with a few colours (nine colours, for example, can produce 45 different shades). Sometimes tartan trousers are worn instead of kilts, particularly in the Army's Lowland regiments or as civilian men's wear. They have a pedigree of their own and were sometimes worn in conjunction with the feileadh mor. The Royal Scots, the oldest regiment in the British Army and (which dates from March 23,1633), wear tartan trews but their Ninth Battalion, which concentrated on recruiting in Highland areas, wore the kilt and were known as The Dandy Ninth. But this is an exception to the norm. Highlanders love their kilts-- modern or ancient.

And the tartan is ancient. Early Romans talked of the Celtic tribes wearing striped clothing One of the earliest examples of tartan is known as the Falkirk tartan because it was found near the Antonine Wall (along with a hoard of coins) and dates from the middle of the 3rd century A.D. It is a simple two-coloured check or tartan, which used dark brown and light-coloured wool. Colours were determined by local plants that could be used for dyes. Teezle and broom gave yellow, the dandelion gave purple, the iris blue-gray, march woodwort gave yellow, blue or red depending on which parts were used, and privet gave green, blue or yellow. Lichen and mosses wre also much used as mordants.

The modern Houndstooth Check, or Shepherd Tartan, simply uses black instead of the natural brown. By the 15th and 16th centuries the word tartan was being widely used for distinctively woven cloth coming out of the Highlands. The term, like tweed or silk , referred to the type of the cloth, rather than colours. In 1538 King James V (father of Mary, Queen of Scots) had a French wife who purchased "three ells of Heland Tartans" to wear. And in 1587, Hector Maclean (heir of Duart) paid feu duty with sixty ells of cloth "white, black and green"-- the tradition colours of the Maclean hunting tartan. Of course, it is only a pretty myth that people in one glen wore red and blue kilts and those in the next wore yellow and brown but, nevertheless, people in past centuries could recognise a person's area and likely allegiance from the way his apparel was worn.

Of course, tartan is not unique to Scotland (the Norse had a nice line of woolens too), but the development into a highly complex and decorative symbol of Clan life, both in the military regiments and family associations, and emotional content, most certainly is our unique heritage. Wear it with pride and respect.

Here are a few guidlines to help you sort out terms that you may run across when selecting which type of tartan to have a kilt made in.

Clan tartan

The regular sett of the clan or family.

Dress tartan

A ground-colour (or colours) is changed to white.

Chief's tartan

Strictly speaking, these should only be worn by the chief and his family unless general sanction has been given or there is no extant chief.

District tartans

Setts that apply to certain geographic areas.

Royal tartans

These should only be worn by the Royal family, their staff, or groups given special permission such as pipers in some Highland regiments.

Remember--

The fair have sighed for it,
The brave have died for it,
Foeman sought for it,
Heroes fought for it,
Honor the name of it,
Drink to the name of it,
The Tartan!

Last Modified 7/9/2002

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