Are kilts really a part of Celtic culture? (ancient, England, facts)

[AuburnAL]

Really? I thought I heard once an Englishman came up with the idea as it would save Scots from having to spend money on pants since they required less fabric.

[CAVA1990]

History of the kilt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[68vette]

Some Irish authors maintain that the male skirt made in tartan fabric was originally dressed in Ireland, and that from there it was introduced in Scotland after Irish-Scots tribes settled in Caledonia around the 5-6th century A.D. The alleged Irish predecessor of the Scottish kilt was called Léine and was a kind of long tunic that stretched down to the knees.
Scottish historians do not agree with their Irish cousins and believe that the real predecessor of the kilt was not the Irish Léine but the Scottish Plaid. The Plaid is a short tartan blanket which is cast over the shoulder and fastened around the waist by a belt. This was worn mainly in the Scottish Highlands as an all-weather outfit that also served as a bedroll for sleeping outdoors.
Both Scots and Irish can claim to be right in their own ways, for the Highland Plaid could indeed have evolved to a shorter garment -the kilt- and the Irish Léine was a knee-length garment which was dressed long before the modern kilt. Yet, long before the Irish were dressing their Léine and Scots were wearing their Plaid, the Galicians were already wearing knee-length male skirts made in tartan: the first Kilt ever recorded!
Dated ca.400 B.C, giant statues were carved in southern Gallaecia (the ancient name of modern Galicia) to honor regional or perhaps high kings of the country.
Those Galician kings are portrayed in a military fashion, in the same way that many medeval kings and earls, wearing their sword and shield. But the striking thing about those statues is the way they are dressed. Those men are wearing kilts, over which distinctive patterns of squares and lines are carved as to represent a primitive tartan fabric. The Galician statues were carved more than five centuries before the first record of the Irish Léine, and almost two millenia before the modern Scottish Kilt.

[lifelongMOgal]

Originally Posted by 68vette

Some Irish authors maintain that the male skirt made in tartan fabric was originally dressed in Ireland, and that from there it was introduced in Scotland after Irish-Scots tribes settled in Caledonia around the 5-6th century A.D. The alleged Irish predecessor of the Scottish kilt was called Léine and was a kind of long tunic that stretched down to the knees.
Scottish historians do not agree with their Irish cousins and believe that the real predecessor of the kilt was not the Irish Léine but the Scottish Plaid. The Plaid is a short tartan blanket which is cast over the shoulder and fastened around the waist by a belt. This was worn mainly in the Scottish Highlands as an all-weather outfit that also served as a bedroll for sleeping outdoors.
Both Scots and Irish can claim to be right in their own ways, for the Highland Plaid could indeed have evolved to a shorter garment -the kilt- and the Irish Léine was a knee-length garment which was dressed long before the modern kilt. Yet, long before the Irish were dressing their Léine and Scots were wearing their Plaid, the Galicians were already wearing knee-length male skirts made in tartan: the first Kilt ever recorded!
Dated ca.400 B.C, giant statues were carved in southern Gallaecia (the ancient name of modern Galicia) to honor regional or perhaps high kings of the country.
Those Galician kings are portrayed in a military fashion, in the same way that many medeval kings and earls, wearing their sword and shield. But the striking thing about those statues is the way they are dressed. Those men are wearing kilts, over which distinctive patterns of squares and lines are carved as to represent a primitive tartan fabric. The Galician statues were carved more than five centuries before the first record of the Irish Léine, and almost two millenia before the modern Scottish Kilt.

Not so suprising since the migration of the tribes of Israel included some landing in Spain/Portugal and then on to Ireland and Scotland. It is all connected.

[MICoastieMom]

Originally Posted by AuburnAL

Really? I thought I heard once an Englishman came up with the idea as it would save Scots from having to spend money on pants since they required less fabric.

The mentality of remarks such as this will get you beat up in many a neighborhood. A kilt is not a frugal investment. They can have up to 7 yards if fabric.

As for the Englishman...... did you hear the one about the Englishman who went on vacation in Scotland? He woke bright and early and insisted on having an authentic breakfast. The waiter at the inn brought him a steaming bowl of oatmeal. The Englishman sputters and carries on how this isn't a fit breakast for a man and ends his remarks by announcing that in England they use oats to feed their horses. The waiter takes it all in stride, waits until the man is done and then observes, "That is why England is known for its horses, and Scotland is known for its men!"

[AuburnAL]

^That was pretty good. I got in a fight with an English horse once (long story). I must have punched that thing in the throat half a dozen times, and it barely even noticed.

[Irishtom29]

You know why Scotchmen wear kilts? The sheep can hear a zipper behind them a mile off.

When I think of Celts I think of trousers---Gauls and all that. All the modern Celtic men I know wear trousers too.

[MICoastieMom]

Agggghct! Real Celtic men wear kilts, Tom, at least in our family. My son wears his every chance he gets, and it doesn't get any realer than rescuing the crabbers from Deadliest Catch in the Bering Sea!

[Irishtom29]

Originally Posted by MICoastieMom

Agggghct! Real Celtic men wear kilts, Tom, at least in our family. My son wears his every chance he gets, and it doesn't get any realer than rescuing the crabbers from Deadliest Catch in the Bering Sea!

Vercingetorix wore trousers; he was a pretty manly Celt.

[noetsi]

Kilts, like most cultural artifacts, are a way of defining that you are different than another group. I doubt kilts were central to scotish culture ever; but they were an easy way to show they were different than the English.

That fight with the english horse sounds pretty intense. Now we know what happened to Shadowfax's progeny