Polish Plaid

Poles living in Scotland now have their own tartan, which incorporates the red and white of the Polish flag.

"I want to buy a kilt because I am living in Scotland," Sebastian Flasza, owner of Rock and Roll Tattoo and Piercing in Edinburgh, told The Times of London. "But I am a Polish Scot. I feel this represents me. Oh, aye."

Poland and Scotland have a long common history. Bonnie Prince Charlie, the ill-fated Stuart heir, was half-Polish, and there is also a myth in Poland that Lech Walesa, leader of the Solidarity movement, is descended from Sir William Wallace, the Scottish nationalist executed by the English in 1305. [Link]

The World's Greatest Snob

I just ran across the obit of "Sir Iain Moncreiffe of That Ilk, chief of a Scottish clan established in 1248," printed in the Boston Globe of Feb. 28, 1985. Here are some excerpts:

Among Sir Iain's eccentricities was a claim in 1970 to being the world's greatest snob, asserting that even the way he held his whisky glass dated back to 16th century ancestors.

More recently, he spent nearly a year sampling different blends of whisky before a blend went on the market bearing the name Moncreiffe.

He was easy to spot in a crowd for he habitually wore trews - close- fitting trousers - in his vivid red and green family tartan, adding a contrasting tartan jacket in the evenings.

Hugh Peskett, a friend and director of Burke's Peerage, said arrangements had been made for his younger son, Peregrine, who lives in New York, to take over the chieftainship of the Moncreiffe clan.

Peregrine will be known as the Moncreiffe of That Ilk, a Saxon title. The word "Ilk" means "the same." The title means the Moncreiffe of Moncreiffe.

Sir Iain's Wikipedia entry reveals that "he had a trick of moving his false teeth up and down while speaking, which he preferred to play on pretty young girls."

Braveheart-like Battle Brewing in Missouri

From The Kansas City (Mo.) Star of Dec. 20, 2005:

Student asked to change out of kilt seeks dress code change

BETSY TAYLOR
Associated Press

JACKSON, Mo. - When Nathan Warmack wore a Scottish kilt to a high school dance, the senior wasn't trying to make a point. He just wanted to honor his heritage.

But then a principal told him to change into a pair of pants. And what began with a few yards of tartan has sparked an international debate about freedom, symbols and cultural dress.

More than 1,600 people have signed an Internet petition seeking an apology for the student. Scots in the United States are assembling a traditional ensemble they hope the student will wear to the prom. And his family is trying to change the school's dress code policy.

[snip]

... Clan Gunn member, Beth Gardner, started an online petition seeking an apology for Warmack. It questions in part the notion that the kilt was a distraction.

"From what? From the intense concentration it takes to dance?"

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

Sign the "Nathan Warmack's Right to Wear his Kilt" petition here.

tags: genealogy, family history, family tree

Men in Kilts Not to be Mocked

From The (Glasgow, Scotland) Sunday Herald of Sept. 25, 2005:

‘Twee?’ Perhaps, but Tartan Days should be celebrated

By Senay Boztas, Arts Correspondent

THEY might inspire a hearty round of jeering in Scotland, but Tartan Days around the world should not be mocked, according to the author of a new book on the Scottish diaspora.

James Hunter, director of the centre for history at the prospective University of the Highlands and Islands, has made a plea for Scots to respect the diverse ways in which their distant relatives celebrate their Scottishness.

[snip]

But he believes that many people unfairly pillory Scots descendants in countries such as America for celebrating their ancestry with Tartan Days and Highland Games.

“We think that if these people dress in kilts and go to Tartan Days, they are off their heads, but they are as entitled to their view of identity as we are to ours,” he said. “If you tried to organise a Tartan Day in Scotland, I don’t think many people would turn up.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

". . . how canst thou say to thy brother, 'Brother, let me cast out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the caber that is in thine own.'"

Off-Kilter Kilts

From Seattle (Wash.) Post-Intelligencer of Sept. 17, 2005:

Don't call them men in skirts — they're men in Utilikilts

By: ANNE KIM - Associated Press

It's the freedom, they say. The freedom to move, to feel the breeze, to stay cool on a hot summer day.

And all this freedom comes simply from banishing pants to the back of the closet, say the men who wear the Utilikilt, a rugged modern take on the Celtic kilt.

The garment ---- made in Seattle by the company of the same name ---- adds a twist of practicality to the traditional kilt. Made with tough fabric and accessories such as cargo pockets and a hammer loop, the garment has attracted marine biologists to construction workers who often point to the comfort factor as their reason for donning the pleats.

[snip]

Utilikilts give men a way to make the usually formal kilt into something work-oriented, [Robert Laeger-Robertson, president of the Southwest Washington Scottish Highlanders Association] said.

But David Garman, president of the Scottish American Athletic Association, based in Los Angeles, says Utilikilts miss the point of the tartan colors and patterns, which represents family history and tradition.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]