The Clothing of Our Ancestors, by Peter Lawrie

Most of this article has been drawn from John Telfer Dunbar’s History of Highland Dress. It's  can be strongly recommend that readers consult this work for further information. The poor survival of textiles except in special conditions makes the study of early vernacular clothing difficult. The elite of the clan probably wore clothing, when they could afford it, which reflected the fashion elsewhere in Scotland, Britain or Europe. Vernacular clothing owed more to local tradition and climate as well as the availability of low-cost materials. For the elite, some descriptions and portraits have survived. Little such evidence exists for the clothing of clansmen and women. Bodies have been found in peat bogs in Caithness and the Western Isles clad in what could be described as jacket and trousers. However, these were both in Viking dominated lands and may not be representative of the Loch Lomond area. Some of the earliest textiles found in Scotland have been described in a paper by Audrey Henshall in the 1951 Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. A 17th century body found in Dara Moss, Moray was clothed in garments made of about 30 different rags and patches. Most of these were twill. Most had brown shades as background with stripes of red and green used sparingly. Several eighteenth century costumes have survived and there are number of fragments in Dunbar’s collection. Most are thin hard tartans with dark red, dark green and black predominating, usually unlike any modern tartan. One from Badenoch has eight colours in it.

A 26-inch long strip of tartan in the Macintosh museum at Moy is reputed to have been a part of a plaid worn by Prince Charles Stewart at Culloden in 1746. Other fragments of the same plaid survive in museums in Atholl and the National Museum in Edinburgh and I have two small pieces that were purchased at the 1993 auction sale of the Thrieplands of Fingask Castle. The original plaid was apparently torn up as mementos for Jacobite sympathisers. The remarkable point about this tartan is the sett repeat of 44 inches. It looks good for a belted plaid but is totally unsuited for the feile beag, or philabeg, which needs a 6 to 10 inch sett repeat for the pleating. Such designs may once have been normal but they did not survive the romantic post-1822 craze for tartan.

 Bare-legged Scots

There are few descriptive accounts of Highland dress until the 16th century. However, King Magnus Barelegs in the saga of 1093 supposedly adopted the dress of his Western domains and went bare-legged, dressed in a short kirtle. In a pilgrim’s guide to Compostella, dated about 1139, the Navarese are described as wearing ‘dark clothes, short to the knees only, in the manner of the Scots’. In an account of the First Crusade dated to around 1104, the Scots are described as ‘bare-legged with their shaggy coats, a scrip hanging ex humeris’. This may be a sporran hanging from the hips. John Major in 1521 wrote ‘From the middle of the thigh to the foot they have no covering for the leg, clothing themselves with a mantle instead of an upper garment’.

The earliest mention of Highland tartan appears in 1538, when King James V had Highland dress made, comprising of a short coat made of varied coloured velvet, trews of 3 ells of Highland tartan and a sark or long shirt. A Frenchman in 1549 described Highlanders in the Scots army as naked except for their stained shirts and a light covering made of wool of various colours. Lindsay of Pitscottie in 1573 referred to the “Reidschankis or wyld Scottis” as being “cloathed with ane mantle, with ane schirt saffroned after the Irisch manner, going bair legged to the knie”.

George Buchanan in Rerum Scotiarum Historia, published in 1581, as translated by Aikman in 1827, said, “...they delight in variegated garments, especially stripes, and their favourite colours are purple and blue. Their ancestors wore plaids of many colours, and numbers still retain this custom, but the majority now in their dress prefer a dark brown, imitating nearly the leaves of the heather, that when lying upon the heath in the day, they may not be discovered by the appearance of their clothes. In these wrapped rather than covered, they brave the severest storms in the open air, and sometimes lay themselves down to sleep even in the midst of snow.” I can vouch that when wearing a belted plaid of MacGregor tartan I have sat fully exposed to view against a rock and watched a herd of red deer approach to within 50 yards of me before taking fright.

The Belted Plaid

Camden’s Britannia of 1617, “This country is inhabited by a rough warlike and very mischievous sort of people commonly called Highlandmen,. They are the true offspring of the ancient Scotch, speak Irish, call themselves Albinnich, are set and tight moulded, of great strength and swiftness, high spirited, bred up in war or rather robbery, and extremely prone to revenge and deep resentment. They wear after the Irish fashion striped mantles and thick long hair, and live by hunting, fishing and plunder.”

One of the earliest clear references to the belted plaid was in 1594 when a party of Highlanders fought under Red Hugh O’Donnell in his struggle against the English. According to Lughaidh O’Clery “They were recognised among the Irish soldiers by the distinction of their arms and clothing, their habits and language. Their exterior dress was mottled cloaks of many colours (breachrait ioldathacha) with a fringe to their shins and calves. Their belts were over their loins outside their cloaks. Many of them had swords with hafts of horn, large and warlike, over their shoulders. It was necessary for the soldier to grip the very haft of his sword with both hands when he would strike a blow with it. Others of them had bows of carved wood strong for use, with well seasoned strings of hemp, and arrows sharp-pointed whizzing in flight”. Not only is this an accurate description of the belted plaid it also describes the great two-handed Claidheamh Mòr in a way which indicates that both were unfamiliar to the Irish.

Fynes Moryson of Cambridge, visited Scotland and Ireland in 1598 and published An Itinerary in 1617. He states that the Irish “delighted in simple light colours as red and yellow” and that “Gentlemen” wore trews. Irish mantles were exported in large numbers and the Lèine was nearly obsolete. Moryson refers to the use of tartan in Lowland Scotland: “The inferior sort of Citizens, wives and the women of the Countrey, did weare cloaks made of a course stuffe, of two or three colours in checker worke, vulgarly called ‘Plodan’”. He also states that Lowland husbandmen and servants in the country wore coarse, home-made cloth of grey or sky colour (hodden grey) and broad flat blue caps.

Tartane and Trowzes

1618, John Taylor, described a hunt on the Braes of Mar. “Many of the nobility and gentry come into these highland countries to hunt, where they do conforme to the habite of the High-land-men, who for the most part speak nothing but Irish. Their habit is shoes with but one sole apiece; stockings, which they call short hose, made of a warm stuff of divers colours, which they call tartane. As for breeches, many of them, nor their forefathers, never wore any, but a jerkin of the same stuff that their hose is of, their garters being bands or wreaths of straw. With a plead about their shoulders, which is a mantle of divers colours, much finer and lighter stuff than their hose, with blue flat caps on their heads, a handkerchiefe knit with two knots about their necke; and thus they are attyred. Now their weapons are long bows and forked arrows, swords and targets, harquebusses, muskets, durks, and Lochaber-axes. With these arms I found many of them armed for the hunting.”

Gordon’s History of Scots Affairs, 1637 to 1641, has the following description. “As for their apparel; next the skin, they wear a short linnen shirt, which the great men among them sometimes dye of saffron colour. They use it short, that it may not incumber them, when running or travelling. In the sharp winter weather they wear close trowzes, which cover the thighs, legs and feet. To fence their feet they put on Rullions or raw leather shoes. Above their shirt they have a single coat, reaching no further than the navel. Their uppermost garment is a loose cloke of several ells, striped and partly coloured, which they gird breadth-wise with a leathern belt, so as it scarce covers the knees, and that it may be no lett to them, when on a journey or doing any work. For the greatest part of the Plaid covers the uppermost parts of the body. Sometimes it is all folded round the body about the region of the belt, for disengaging and leaving the hands free; and sometimes ‘tis wrapped round all that is above the flank. The trowzes are for winter use; at other times they content themselves with short hose, which scarce reach the knees. When they compose themselves to rest or sleep, they loose the belt, and roll themselves in the plaid, lying down on the bare ground, or putting heather under them nicely set together after their manner, or for want of that, use a little straw or hay.”

According to Richard James, Master of Arts of Oxford who travelled around 1618, to Wales, Scotland, Shetland, Greenland and Russia. “The Hilandes of ye north of Scotland are … a healthful, strong, able and proper people, but much given to fightinge and quarellinge and sudden murders. The weapons they use are a longe basket hilte swoarde, and a longe kind of dagger broade in ye backe and sharpe at ye point which they call a durcke; and long bowe and arrowes with which they are very expert. Their garments are a blue frise slasht jerkin, and pleidens and truces, and blacke and greene and blue bonnets. The most part of them are blacke haird and eide (black haired and eyed) and of whitish countenance. The instruments with which they make mirth are Jewes harpes which they call trumps and great lowd bagpipes uppon which they plaie and tune battails and combats and other such songs as they have, They will rather want their cloaths than their target which they beautify according to their riches.”

Solid vs. Tartan - How Much Can You Pay?

In the Breadalbane Baron Court records for 1622 maximum prices that could be charged by weavers were defined, on penalty of £10 for each offence. It was decreed that “no webster take more for the weaving of a good head-plaid than one firlot (16kg) meal, or else the price therof”. The charge for weaving a grey plaid of half hues was two pecks (8kg) of meal and two shillings silver; for a plaid that had only one sprang (stripe) of hues, one peck and two lippies (6kg) of meal and two shillings silver; for grey cloth, two pence and one peck (4kg) the ell; and for tartan, fourpence the ell and one peck, two lippies (6kg) of meal. There were 4 lippies to the peck, 4 pecks to the firlot and 4 firlots to the boll. The meal boll weighed approximately 140lbs avoirdupois (although the precise weight varied between counties) so the lippie was very slightly less than a metric kilogram. Oatmeal provides 404 kcals per 100g, so 5 kg of meal should provide 20000 kcals sufficient for one lightly active adult for a week. Day labourers were paid fourpence per day or two shillings a week, while the annual wage for a male servant was between £2 and £3 or around 1 shilling a week plus food and shelter. It appears from the above that the weaver was only paid for his labour and the purchaser had to provide or pay for the spun and dyed thread in addition. The ell was about 37 inches, slightly more than a yard and less than a metre. A plaid made with 6 ells of double-width tartan would cost at least as much to make as a day labourer could earn in cash and meal for several week’s work. Taking into account the prices of grey and tartan material one could surmise that only the more affluent actually wore tartan. The less well off either wore the same coarse hodden grey as the lowland labourer, or made do with rags handed down to them. In the complaint of M’Kenzie of Pluscardin in 1649 against thieves who had plundered his property, there were listed ten ells of tartan at 30 shillings the ell, and a white plaid worth £8 Scots, although these may have been better quality than that produced by the weaver in Breadalbane. However, John Ray, an English zoologist, writing in 1662, commented that the Highlanders “lay out most they are worth in cloaths and a fellow that has scarcely ten groats besides to help himself with, you shall see come out of his smoaky cottage clad like a gentleman."

Daniel Defoe in Memoirs of a Cavalier describes Highlanders in the Covenanting Army of 1639. “They were generally tall swinging fellows; their swords were extravagantly broad and they carried great wooden targets, large enough to cover the upper part of their bodies. Their dress was as antique as the rest; a cap on their heads called by them a bonnet, long hanging sleeves behind, and their doublet, breeches and stockings of a stuff they call plaid, striped across with red and yellow, with short cloaks of the same”. Dunbar comments on this passage that the companies, though each commanded by one of their own clan, do not appear to be distinguished by a ‘clan’ tartan. The mention of the two most popular colours for over-stripes confirms this. Browns, greens and blues were the favourite ground colours due to the relative ease of producing them and the reds and yellows, being more difficult were used in smaller quantities.

Thomas Tucker in his Report upon the Settlement of the Revenues of Excise and Customs in Scotland of 1655 describes the trade in plaids. “Whereas wools, skins and hides were in great plenty at Perth, pladding was made and exported from Aberdeen, Dundee, Montrose and Glasgow. Highlanders came to Glasgow from the Isles and Western parts with pladding, dry hides, goat, kid and deere skyns”. Alexander Nicolson, writing about Skye at about the same time stated that the wool of the native sheep “was woven locally into a coarse woollen cloth called plaiding that was exported to Denmark and the Netherlands”.

Cloathes by Day, Beds by Night

Thomas Morer visited Scotland in 1689 and published his Short Account in 1702. “They (the Highlanders) are constant in their habit; pladds are most in use with ‘em … they not only served them for cloaths by day but were beds in the night at such times as they travelled. These pladds are about seven or eight yards long, differing in fineness according to the abilities or fancy of the wearers. They cover the whole body with ‘em from the neck to the knees, excepting the right arm. Many of ‘em have nothing under these garments besides waistcoats and shirts, which descent no lower than the knees and they so gird ‘em about the middle as to give ‘em the same length as the linen under ‘em and thereby supply the defect of drawers and breeches. Those who have stockings make ‘em generally of the same piece with their pladds, not knit or weaved but sow’d together and they tie ‘em below the knee with tufted garters. They wear a sort of shooes which they call brocks like our pumps, without heels of a very thin sole. They cover their heads with bonnets or thrum-caps … to keep off the weather. They are blue, grey or sad-coloured as the purchaser thinks fit and sometimes lined according to the quality of their master."

Description of the Western Isles of Scotland, was published in 1703 by Martin Martin, the factor to the Laird of MacLeod. Martin’s account related to the Islands but it is probably relevant to the Western Mainland as well. In it is a reference to the change from the saffron shirt about the beginning of the 17th century, a good description of the plaid, a mention of the variation of designs between districts, but no mention of the philabeg. “The first habit worn by persons of distinction in the Islands was the Leni-Croich, from the Irish word Leni, which signifies a shirt and Croch, saffron, because their shirt was dyed with that herb. The ordinary number of ells used to make this robe was twenty-four. It was the upper garb reaching below the knees and was tied with a belt round the middle, but the islanders have laid it aside about a hundred years ago. They now generally use coat, wastcoat and breeches as elsewhere and on their heads wear bonnets made of thick cloth, some blew, some black and some gray. Many of the people wore Trowis, some of them very fine woven, like stockings of those made of cloath. Some are coloured and others striped. The latter are as well shaped as the former, lying close to the body from the middle downwards and tied round with a belt above the haunches. There is a square piece of cloth which hangs down before. The measure for shaping the trowis is a stick of wood, whose length is a cubit and that divided into the length of a finger and half a finger, so that it requires more skill to make it than the ordinary habit. But persons of distinction wear the garb in fashion in the South of Scotland. The plad wore only by the men is made of fine wool, the thread as fine as can be made of that kind. It consists of divers colours and there is a great deal of ingenuity requir’d in sorting the colours so as to be agreeable to the nicest fancy. For this reason the women are at great pains, first to give an exact pattern of the plade upon a piece of wood, having the number of every thread of the stripe on it. The length of it is commonly seven double ells, the one end hangs by the middle over the left arm, the other going round the body, hangs by the end over the left arm also. The right hand above it is to be at liberty to do anything upon occasion. Every isle differs from each other in their fancy of making plaids, as to the stripes in breadth and colours. This humour is as different thro’ the mainland of the Highlands in so far that they who have seen those places are able, at the first view of a man’s plaid to guess the place of his residence. When they travel on foot the plaid is tied on the breast with a bodkin of bone or wood (just as the spina worn by the Germans, according to the description of C. Tacitus). The plaid is tied round the middle with a leather belt. It is pleated from the belt to the knee very nicely. This dress for footmen is found much easier and lighter than breeches or trowis.

The Little Kilt, Philabeg

Finally, a few words about the little kilt or philabeg. There is a scurrilous story, often told, that an Englishman invented the kilt. In fact, there was an Englishman, called Rawlinson, who in the 1730s operated an iron-smelter in the Lochaber area. It is said that he dressed his locally recruited labour in philabegs. However, there are portraits dating from the late 17th century showing clan gentry dressed in little kilts. Punitive legislation in 1746 and 1747 proscribed tartan and Highland dress as well as the possession of weapons. This remained in force until 1782, by which time a generation had grown up with little knowledge of the costume of their ancestors. Offenders suffered the dreadful fate of transportation to the American colonies. Until proscription was lifted it was only legal to wear the kilt in the Highland regiments and indeed the government in London encouraged the raising of these regiments, both as a source of military manpower for overseas service and also to diminish the fighting resource of the Highlands in the event of any further Jacobite threats. Military quartermasters and clothing contractors together formed the kilt as we know it today. Originally, 4 to 6 yards of unstitched single width material, rather than the usual double width, was issued to the recruit. This was hand pleated on each occasion it was worn and held by the belt. A military jacket or coat formed the upper garment, with or without a separate plaid flung over the shoulder. From here it was a short step to stitch the pleats permanently in place. The oldest known surviving example dates from 1792, it has four yards of material and wide box-pleats. Regimental uniformity and parade ground neatness led to bulk contracts with weaving companies for tartans with a small sett. The repeat of the sett is used as a visual cue when hand-pleating the plaid. Similarly, the kilt when stitched uses the repetition of the sett to form a regular design. Military kilts usually feature the dominant stripe of the sett on every pleat, whereas it became usual in the 19th century for civilian kilts to repeat the sett across the pleats. The military design uses a little less material. (My MacGregor kilt is made from just 5 yards of material, with 14 box pleats, rather than the usual 8 yards and 24-28 pleats, very much along the lines of the 1792 example mentioned above. This has the advantage of summer lightness as well as reducing the cost as it is a hand-woven MacGregor of Glengyle sett. Like many other subtle variations this is a product of the 19th century).

The oldest known military design is that now called ‘Black Watch’ and used by the 42nd Regiment or Am Freicadan Dubh. In the 18th century it was known as ‘Government Tartan’. Variations of it can be seen in the ‘ancient’ tartans of several pro-Hanoverian clans including Campbell and Sutherland.

The Tartan Craze

In 1822 King George IV came to Edinburgh, in a visit stage-managed by Sir Walter Scott. Sir Evan Murray MacGregor, escorted by fifty clansmen in matching MacGregor kilts escorted the Honours of Scotland, the ancient royal regalia, from the Castle to Holyrood Palace. Portraits commemorating this event, and the actual plaid Sir Evan wore are still in the possession of Sir Gregor at Bannatyne House. From then on there was a craze for tartan. The overwhelming majority of setts were designed and produced by weaving companies in the Lowland counties of Clackmannan and Stirling. In particular Wilson’s of Bannockburn, whose 1819 pattern book began the tradition of linking precise patterns with particular clans. The near total lack of any early documentation or illustrations makes it very difficult to establish what, if any, designs predate this. Lowland families that previously would not have been seen dead in anything Highland joined in.

Thus tartan and the kilt became the badge of the Scot across the globe.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celtic National Dress

by Searles O'Dubhain & Iain MacAnTsaoir

We do not refer to the items of clothing used by our ancestors as costumes, regalia, or garb. Neither do we refer to these items as such when we wear our cultural dress. They are, in fact, national dress. These are part of the customs of our ancestors, which, because they are still in use, are quite living. In the Tribe we recognize the various types of national dress, as having belonged to Gaelic peoples, as National dress of the Tribe.

Even our relatives in the old countries still assign the proper respect due them. As an example, I am reminded of the story of a costume ball which was thrown at Buckingham Palace some years ago. Prince Charles, in regal form proudly came in after all had arrived and the ball started. His "costume" was a formal wear of the Kilt, which is the National Dress of Scotland. The reception he received by the people there was extremely cold. So much so that he very shortly left in embarrassment. This is serious stuff. It is the legacy of our ancestors to us and part of what distinguishes us as a distinct people of a distinct culture.

The following is but a brief treatment of a very complex topic. Some areas of this topic are still sources of contention between learned people.

Irish

When we wish to look for the ways of our Gaelic ancestors, the first place to look is Ireland. There are several sources through which we gain a glimpse back to see what our ancestors wore. One of the most common places is the Book of Kells whose illuminations give pictures of modes of dress. Other places are the descriptions given by chroniclers, as well as the carvings of people on ancient churches. The types of clothing ranged wide in old Irish society. If one were to be able to peer back in time they would see the several articles of clothing in use. These would include the, inar and trews, brahts [cloaks and mantles], leine and leinte. The Irish loved their clothes to be brightly colored. The materials they used ranged from animal skins to silks and linen, to wool.

No Irish Kilt

It is a complete misnomer that the kilt in any guise was found in Ireland. There is however, still a bit of contention on whether there was an indigenous Irish kilt. Some utilze old sculptures and other things to authenticate the existence of kilts amongst the Irish. Other look at the words in the language itself. The Dictionary of the Irish Language (DIL) says that an Old Irish word for kilt is "celt" and that the ancient Irish were known to wear a piece of clothing called a brecca/n. This is a plaid by another name. As to whether it was belted, no one has said, but it is known that it was sometimes worn with the long shirt called a le/ine. The brecca/n would be called a breacan-an-fhe/ilidh among the Gael of Alba (Scotland) when worn with a belt. 

The respected authority on Irish dress of the middle ages, H.F. McClintock weighed in against the kilt being part of the indigenous wear of Ireland. Most of those with the expertise to make such judgements now concur that what is portrayed is actually the leinebunched up under a belt. 

Leine & Leinte - The leine itself is a unisex garment as it was won by members of both genders. It was an article of clothing similar to a moderately cut chamise or smock, which reached to the ankles. It was usually made of linen. When the skilled and dignified wore it, it was pulled on over the head like a long shirt, hung as low as the shins, and was very full, if not pleated, under the belt. Peasants who wore the garment considerable shorter. 

It was the custom drawing the garment up through the belt to knee-level, with the subsequent bunching that caused it to be mistaken for a kilt. 

Kevin Donaher quotes a visiting Englishman as he described the dress this way in 1581: 

"Their shirts be very strange

 Not reaching past the thigh;

 With pleats they pleated are

 As thick as pleats may be"  

Inar & Trews 

The Inar is a close-fitting jacket that was worn with and without sleeves. It was worn with a pair of trews (not over a léine). The high waisted versions found in the 16 century were a latter development. The trews were close fitting, with some having legs that stopped right above the knee, others which fastened just below the knee, and yet others had stirrups which went under the instep. This mode of dress seems to have been worn by the younger men and those who engaged in hard activities. The styles of the trews differed. The Book of Kells shows examples of these mode of dress being worn by a soldier. 

Brahts 

The braht is simply woolen cloak. There were various versions of them. These ranged from the rather voluminous rectangles worn over the shoulder to something that looks like a cape. There even appears from evidence to have been a version that was formed as a half circle (half circle cloak), this had arm holes and was worn with and without hoods. Another version of the braht was the simple square mantle. In the earliest days the mantle was worn by those of rank, seems to have contained the various colors that the Ilbreachta Law specified. The earliest Irish Filidh wore cloaks of birds' feathers called tugen. These later evolved into the mantle which displayed colors according to the law. 

Unfortunately, we have found nothing to date which covers this topic for our cousins from the Isle of Man. 

Scotland 

The various garments associated with Irish, are also the modes of dress of ancient Scottish Gaelic culture. The Gaels of Scotland came over through the Dal Riadh from Ireland. This did happen, of course, after Christianity came to Ireland.  

Tartan 

While the tartan kilt may be the most visually recognizable cultural tradition of the Highland Scots, the more recognizable tartans seen today are in fact creations of Scottish and English tailors during the reign of Queen Victoria. This aside, it is generally agreed that the use of the tartan and the wearing of the kilt do have their origin in the history of the early Scottish and Irish clanns, or families.  

It has been shown that some clans did aspire to a certain uniformity of design for their garments at least as early as the tenth and eleventh centuries. The use of plaid materials may be pushed back further amongst Celtic peoples in general. The Breacan literally means "speckled", this helps connect it to the description Pliny gave of the much earlier Celtic ancestors. Today though, through the agencies set up under English domination, the patterns or sett's, are used to identify the clann or military regiment with which the wearer is associated. It is generally thought, however, that the first tartans were the result of individual weavers own designs, then were slowly adopted to identify individual districts, then finally clans and families. 

The first recorded effort to enforce uniformity throughout an entire clan was in 1618, when Sir Robert Gordon of Gordonstoun, wrote to Murry of Pulrossie requesting that he bring the plaids worn by his men into "harmony with that of his other septs." 

Although the kilt is the most widely known use of the tartans, it is also used the form of trews, shawls, and skirts. 

Kilt 

No one knows exactly when the predecessor of the kilt, the belted plaid, was first developed. The first reference to something that may have, in fact, been a belted plaid, was by Pliny. In his writings there is found a statement that the Celts wore many colored squares of cloth that they held on with a belt, but which they removed before going into battle. The description of the material as many colored hits too close to what the Gaelic word for tartan literally means, "speckled", to be a coincidence. 

Some believe that the kilt arose around 1600 and derive from Scottish soldiers belting their braht around their waste. Another school of thought says that it is from an older belted plaid that the filamor or "great kilt" originated. There is a version of the kilt for women, it is called the aresaid. The belted plaid is made of 100 inches x 7-9 yards of material. The kilts on the other hand are made of 60 inch wide x 5-7 yards of material.  

The kilt actually has two components. The first is actually that which exists below the belt and the other that above. That part below the belt is the kilt proper. That above the belt is called the "plaid". Worn with the kilt are items which are present day requirements. Amongst these is the sporran, which is a leather pouch, often with a horse hair flap, and always with three tassles. There is a casual approach to wearing the kilt as well as methods for wearing the kilt as formal wear. There is, in fact, quite a bit of etiquette involved in the proper wearing of the kilt in the modern world. 

Brief History Of The Kilt 

After 1688, and the fall of the Stuart clan, “Jacobism” spread across the Highlands like wild fire. This caused the English government to feel the need to take a more active interest in the Highland affairs.  

In 1707, The Act of Union took place. This Act succeeded in temporarily uniting the political factions and clans that were universally opposed to the Act. The tartan became a symbol of active nationalism and was seen by the nobility to be a sign par excellence of extremism. It is also believed that this act of parliament succeeded to some extent in the uniting of the Scottish Highlands and Lowlands. This because the wearing of the tartan spread from the Highlands to the Lowlands, which had previously not been known for their wearing of the tartan. 

After the rising of 1715, the Government found the need to enforce stricter policing of the Scottish Highlands and Lowlands. A number of independent companies were formed to curtail the various small uprisings and other disturbances which occurred frequently. One of the features that distinguished their recruits were the large number of highland gentlemen that enlisted and chose to serve in the private ranks. Many an English officer was surprised to see these Scottish privates attended by personal servants who carried their food, clothing, and weapons. From the time they were first raised, these independent regiments became known as the Black Watch, in reference to the darkly colored tartans they were known to wear. One of the more famous tales of these Highland companies is told about King George, who had never seen a Highland warrior. Three privates were chosen and sent to London to be presented to the King. The King was so impressed with the skill with which they wielded their broad swords and Lochaber axes that he presented them each with a guinea. This was quite insulting to a Highland gentleman, but they could not refuse the gift. They accepted the gift as good manners dictated, but as they left they each flipped it in disgust to the porter as they passed the palace gates. 

In 1726 an English iron magnate redesigned the filimor into the filibeg. 

In 1740, the independent military companies became a formal regiment, and a formal tartan was created for them. This was quite problematic as they had to choose a tartan which wouldn't insult certain clanns, or seem to favor others. Finally, a new tartan was developed which has ever since been known as the Black Watch Tartan. The Black Watch Tartan was the first documented tartan to be known by an official name and possesses the authenticity of a full pedigree. From this tartan have been derived all of the Highland regimental tartan designsand many of the hunting setts worn by other clanns. 

In 1746, the same year as the Bonnie Prince's defeat at Culloden, the Government enacted a law making it illegal for Highlanders to own or possess weapons. By the same act, a Highlander was forbidden to own a horse worth more than 2 Pounds. Even the Bagpipes were outlawed, they being considered an instrument of war. A year later, the Dress Act restricted the wearing of traditional Highland clothes and all forms of plaid - filimor, belted plaid, trews, shoulder belt, or filibeg - were not to be worn in public. There was harsh punishment for disregarding these laws. Punishment for a first offense was six-months imprisonment, a second offense earned the wearer a seven year stint of indentured servitude in one of the colonies. Only those who served in the army were permitted to wear the plaid, and as a result, it is told that many Highlanders enlisted simply to be allowed to wear their more comfortable traditional dress. The traditional great kilt was in use commonly up to the banning of traditional Highland wear. It was the filibeg that was sustained through military service (Black Watch). In fact, most recognizable features and traditions associated with the wearing of the kilt were developed in the nineteenth century, not by Scottish Highlanders, but by the Nobles of England and Scotland. 

The Dress Act was repealed in 1783. The plaid now became more of a fashion experiment for the elite of English society. Between the time of the Dress Act and the repeal many Highlanders rebelled by wearing their tartans anyway. Their reasoning was that since Lord Hardwicke, the man who drafted this law, was dead, that the law no longer applied.  

Sumptuary Laws - Gaelic Color Usage - Basic Format 

We also find our knowledge being added to by the laws of the time and in particular the Ilbreachta Laws which is an ancient sumptuary law. This set of laws determines the colors of used in clothing. With this system the people could display their accomplishments and position. The basic format according to Brehon Law is as follows:  

Seven colors     Ard Righ - the High King   

Six colors           Nemed (Druids, Churchmen, Lords, Poets)

Five colors         Provincial Chiefs

Four colors        Bruiden or Wealthy Landowners

Three colors      Warriors

Two colors         Peasants

One color           Slaves  

At least one source (Story of the Irish Race) states that Tighernmas (900 BCE) introduced the colors saffron, blue and green to Ireland from trading with the Phoenicians. He also was said to have established the numbers and types of colors that could be worn by the different classes of Irish society. According to both Peter Beresford Ellis (Irish Mythology) and William and Mary Durning ( A Guide to Irish Roots) , Tigernmas "The Lord of Death" introduced the colored system of clothing. I'd like to suggest these colors for the different levels of Irish society:Ard Righ - Seven colors: Purple, white, black, blue, red, green, yellow. (These are also the colors of the Royal Stewart Tartan in Scotland.) 

Nemed         Six colors:      yellow, green, red, blue, black, white

Chiefs          Five colors:    yellow, green, red, blue, black

Bruiden        Four colors:   yellow, green, red, blue

Warriors      Three colors:  yellow, green, red

Peasants    Two colors:     yellow, green

Slaves         One color:       yellow 

According to the Cain Law, the dath was proscribed as follows: satin and scarlet for the sons of king; black yellowish, grey and blay clothes for the maic na ngra'd fene. The mac in airrech, mac in airrech tuis, mac in airrech ard, mac in airrech forgill, mac in airrech rig, also had colors assigned to their cloths as well, though no mention is made of them in the DIL. 

In another reference, the following colors were prescribed for:

Free class      yellow, black, white, blay.

Noble grade   red, green, brown.

Royalty            Purple and blue.

 
The shields of the five provinces of Ireland (Leinster, Munster, Connacht, Ulster and Meath) contain the colors: red, gold, white, blue, green, black and purple. 

From the Tain Bo Cuailgne: (describing the cavalcade of Bodb Derg)

"There was no person among them that was not the son of a king or a queen. They all wore green cloaks; and they wore kilts with red interweavings, and borders or fringes of gold thread upon them, and pendants of white bronze thread upon their leggings or greaves, and shoes with clasps of red bronzein them." 

From "The Story of the Irish Race" by Seamus Mac Manus: (said of Tighernmas, Milesian King of Ireland) 

"Sometimes to him, sometimes to his successor, Eochaid, is credited the ancient ordinance which distinguished the various classes and professions by the colors of their dress. A King or Queen might wear seven colors; a poet or Ollam six; a chieftain five; an army leader four; a land-owner three; a rent-payer two; a serf one colour only." 

From the Tain Bo Cuailgne: (Said of Connor Mac Nessa by the herald MacRoth) 

"A tall graceful champion of noble, polished, and proud mien, stood at the head of the party. This most beautiful of the kings of the world stood among his troops with all the signs of obedience, superiority, and command. He wore a mass of yellow, curling, drooping hair. He had a pleasing, ruddy countenance. He had a deep, blue, sparkling, piercing eye in his head and a two-branching beard, yellow, and curling upon his chin. He wore a crimson, deep-bordered tunic over his bosom; and a brilliant white shirt, interwoven with thread of red gold, next his white skin." 

From the Book of Ballymote: (describing Cormac Mac Art at the Feis of Tara) 

"His hair was slightly curled, and of golden color; he had a scarlet shield with engraved devices, and golden hooks and clasps of silver; a wide-flowing purple cloak on him, with a gem-set gold brooch over his breast; a gold torque around his neck; a white-collared shirt, embroidered with gold, upon him; a girdle with golden buckles, and studded with precious stones around him; two golden net-work sandals with golden buckles upon his feet; two spears with golden sockets, and many red bronze rivets, in his hand; while he stood in the full glow of beauty, without defect or blemish. You would think it was a shower of pearls that were set in his mouth; his lips were rubies; his symmetrical body was as white as snow; his cheek was like the mountain ash-berry; his eyes were like the sloe; his brows and eye-lashes were like the sheen of a blue-black lance." 

Here is a description of Edain from the Tale of the Bruidean Da Dearga: 

"...he saw a woman on the brink of a fountain, having a comb and a casket of silver, ornamented with gold, washing her head in a silver basin with four birds of gold perched upon it, and little sparkling gems of crimson carbuncle upon the outer edges of the basin. A short crimson cloak, with a beautiful gloss, lying near her; a brooch of silver, inlaid with sparkles of gold, in that cloak. A smock, long and warm, gathered and soft, of green silk, with a border of red gold, upon her. Wonderful clasps of gold and silver at her breast, and at her shoulder-blades, and at her shoulders in that smock, on all sides. The sun shown upon it, while the men (that is the king, and his retinue) were all shaded in red, from the reflection ofthe gold against the sun, from the green silk. Two golden-yellow tresses upon her head, each of them plaited with four locks or strands, and a ball of gold upon the point of each tress. The color of that hair was like the flowers of the bog fir in the summer, or like the red gold immediately after receiving its coloring. And there she was disentangling her hair, and her two arms out through the bosom of her smock."

From the Book of Rights: (details of the tuarastal payable from the king to subordinate kings) 

"Seven mantles with wreaths of gold,

And seven cups for social drinking,

Seven steed not accustomed to falter,

To the king of Kerry of the combats. 

The prosperous king of Rathlenn is entitled

To the stipend of a brave great man;

Ten swords, and ten drinking horns,

Ten red cloaks, ten blue cloaks. 

The king of Ara of beauty is entitled

From the king of Eire of the comely face,

To six swords, six praised shields,

And six mantles of deep crimson."  

In the tale of Bruidean Da Dearga, Incel reports of Conari Mor's druith (jesters): 

"I saw there...three jesters at the fire. They wore three dark grey cloaks; and if all the men of Eirinn were in one place, and though the body of the father or the mother of each man was lying dead before him, not one could refrain from laughing at them." 

A description of Maine, son of Ailill and Medb: 

"There were seven greyhounds attending his chariot, in chains of silver; with balls of gold upon each chain, so that the tingling of the balls against the chains would be music sufficient. There was no known colour that was not to be seen upon these greyhounds. There were seven Cornaire (trumpeters), with corna (horns) of gold and silver, wearing cloths of many colours, and all having fair-yellow hair. Three druids also went in front of them, who wore minda (diadems) of silver upon their heads and speckled clocks over their dresses, and who carried shields of bronze ornamented with red copper. Three Critire (harpers) accompanied them; each of kingly aspect, and arrayed in a crimson cloak. It was so they arrived on thegreen of Cruachan." 

In the "Colloqoquy of the Two Sages": 

Bricriu gave a "...purple tunic, adorned with gold and silver..." to Nede an aspiring Ollamh. Then Nede went and sat in the Poet's Chair and pulled his robe of three colors about him: a covering of bright bird's feathers were in the middle, at he bottom a speckling of findruine (a white gold, white brass, silver combination), while the top was a brilliant golden color. 

From the Metrical Dindshenchas (referencing the cloak of Fer Berna from Brius): 

"Ni find, ni liath, ni lachtna, ni derg,ni gorm, ni corcra, ni breccan raenach riabach, ni hetgud srianach soccra." "It is not white, nor gray, nor dun; it is not red, nor blue, nor purple; it is no tartan, striped nor checkered; it is no beribboned garment of ease."  

Scottish tartans had a hierarchy of color numbers just as did the Irish. Amongst the Scots Gael, only the Scottish high king could wear a purple stripe in his tartan. The Scottish King could have seven colors in his tartan. All others could have only six colors. The extra color was purple. The Royal Stewart tartan contains the colors: red, yellow, white, blue, green, black and purple (very similar to the colors of the shields of the Irish provinces). 

The following is based on information regarding the leine, the long shirts of the Irish which preceded the belted plaid worn by the Scots, as found in "Scottish Clans & Tartans" by Iain Grimble. In Scotland, the leine was said to have been "striped" and persisted into the 17th century before being replaced by kilts or "belted plaids". The class structures were mentioned in both Celtic Myths and Legends by T.W. Rolleston and A Guide to Early Irish Law by Fergus Kelly. Information regarding colors can be found in The Sacred Cauldron by Tadhg MacCrossan: White for truth, red for physical strength, green/blue for fertility. 

We believe that these colors were used in the mantles or brahts. This is ascertained by looking at what articles of clothing have survived. Display of colors seem not to have been matter of ones leine or inar and trews, but rather of bands of color in their cloak. In the lore we see colors in the cloak also mentioned in the Cath Magh Tuireadh, when King Eochaid mac Eirc went to Eriu, that he wore a many-banded cloak.  

In The Tain by Thomas Kinsella, the specific colors are listed, in order from highest to lowest as: purple, blue, black, green and yellow, plain grey or speckled grey and yellow-brown in either a checked and striped pattern. Since the yellow dyes of the time was made from burdock root, it is safe to assume that the yellow that is being referenced here is saffron.  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sources:

Celtic Myths and Legends, T.W. Rolleston

Clannada na Gadelica
Clothing of the Celts, Early Irish, M.E. Riley

Encyclopedia Brittanica 1994, Encyclopedia Britannica

Old Irish and Highland Dress, Henry Foster McClintock, 1947

Scottish Gaelic Studies, Chadwick, Nora K.,

So You Want to Wear the Kilt,  Scotty Thompson

Special Thanks To: Morgan O' Maolin Molly NiDana

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------