by Cinead MacAlpin
(Scotland)
German print showing Highlanders in about 1630
Just because Scotland is a country considered Celtic, does not mean that Scotland’s culture is indicative of a wider Celtic one, nor does it indicate that it is representative of Celtic culture as a whole. Scotland just happens to be considered a ‘Celtic’ nation by means of language, not necessarily culture.
Wales and Ireland are also considered Celtic, but, this does not mean that they also wore the kilt simply for being in proximity to Scotland. The ancient Irish wore a garment called the lein-croich, a type of long tunic belted at the waist and usually of a single color. The ancient Scots also wore this garment; the yellow battle shirt, though they would have worn the great plaid above this. The welsh don’t have a national garment, which is the main reason that welsh people have attempted to co-opt the national dress of Scotland, using pseudo history, and two examples of a figure wearing a belted tunic as an example of the kilt, which they call the cilt. This only further hints at their utter lack of understanding of the history of the Kilt, as the name applies only to the modern Scottish national dress, not the ancient progenitor of said dress, the great plaid (filleadh mhòr).
Nor do they realize, that the kilt as we know it, is far removed from its progenitor, the great plaid (filleadh mhòr), which was a versatile outfit that served a variety of functions to its Scottish wearers; a cloak, tent, bedding, and if folded properly, could also be used to carry items on the person in the form of overlapping pockets and recesses.
The modern kilt was adapted from the great plaid (From ‘pladjer’-the Scots Gaelic for blanket) sometime in the 1600’s, and there are various theories as to who re-designed it, and where this adaption occurred, but that is beyond the point, the kilt as we know it, is of a modern design, and from the modern era of Scotland. So the example put forward by the welsh is as redundant as it is nonsensical, for the kilt as we know it, did not yet exist in its current form, and so any outfit put forward as proof of the welsh having worn it is completely unfounded.
A version of the filleadh bheag, or small kilt, in one example of the origin of the modern kilt, is said to have been invented by an English Quaker from Lancashire named Thomas Rawlinson. He felt that the belted plaid was “cumbrous and unwieldy”, and his solution was to separate the skirt and convert it into a distinct garment with pleats already sewn. His associate, the chief of the MacDonnells of Inverness, also began wearing it, and when his clansmen, employed in logging and iron smelting, saw their chief wearing the new attire, soon followed suit. From there its use spread “in the shortest space” amongst the Highlanders, and even amongst some of the Lowlanders.
Similarly, the kilt in its current form has many attachments, such as the sporran, fly plaid (Which replaced the portion of the Great Kilt that was draped over the shoulder) Sgian dubh, and hose, to name but a few of the most recognizable of these items. And there is no doubt that these articles of attire are solely the creation of Scotland, and its culture, as they were applied to the Scottish national dress in what would be considered a relatively modern era. So in their confirmed authenticity as to being articles of attire undoubtedly Scottish in origin (as the Kilt itself is) and having come about in the modern era, why then, would we find them on the so called Irish and Welsh Kilts?
Clans, tartans, and the Kilt
Until the middle of the nineteenth century, the highland tartans were only associated with regions or districts, rather than any specific Scottish clan or territory. This was because the designs were produced by local weavers for local tastes, and would usually use only those natural dyes available to them in their particular area.
And so, as many quite rightly point out, the use of Tartan to denote to any particular clan is also a relatively modern tradition, but in acknowledging that, one must surely then understand that if that is so, and the Tartan clan identifier’s place is a new tradition within Scotland’s culture, and of that we can be absolutely certain of, then we are assured that the use of it in the so called welsh family tartans are utterly superfluous, and again have no basis in reality, and are simply a wholesale copying of the Scottish national dress, rather than any representation of an existing Welsh national dress.
And on the matter of Clans being an integral part of Scottish culture, and not one of Celtic culture as a whole, and by that I mean Irish or Welsh; the Picts had a Clann system of their own, which dominated Scottish society for 800 years. And In the words of Forbes MacGregor: “There were clans among the Picts before 537AD, the date of the death of King Arthur, but they were of a different nature than the Highland clans of Scotland, though no doubt the idea