Are Kilts Irish?

What is the history of the Irish kilt?
Did the Irish wear kilts before the Scottish?
Do the Irish wear kilts today?
Where did the saffron kilt come from?
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[@MrIncorr3ct]

Scottish and Irish, Gaelic brothers forever

[@richiethemage2646]

Brilliant. Always wondered about this. Thanks.

[@bobcharlie2337]

Thank you, thank you. I have always wanted to know the answer to that question.

[@tireachan6178]

This is a very accurate explanation. Both the medieval Scots Gaels and Irish would have worn the Leine which was the precursor to the kilt. The English crown began its total deconstruction of Gaelic society in Ireland in the late 1500's, around the same time as the transition from Leine to Kilt was taking place in the western Isles and highlands of Scotland where it continued to develop for another century without Anglo interference as Scotland remained an independent Kingdom during the 1600's. If history had taken another turn and the Irish had won the battle of Kinsale, and The Flight of The Earls had never occurred, then it is reasonable to assume the kilt would have also been adopted and developed by Irish Gaels along with Scots Gaels as a natural progression from medieval to early modern era. This is why the kilt was a natural choice for the Gaelic Revivalists who sensibly saw it as the contemporary Gaelic Fashion where as The Leine was by then an archaic medieval oddity.

[@NuclearHaggis]

Putting two pieces of long fabric together and wrapping it around your body in the way the Gaels in Scotland did was unusual, and assuming it would have happened across the Irish sea is a massive reach. Stop embarrassing Ireland with this "Irish kilt" nonsense.

[@tireachan6178]

Jason Gunn-Davis Really? How do you know wrapping the body in certain fabrics in cold wet climates was unusual in the late medieval/early modern period, seems like a practical way of not expiring in harsh weather while waiting for The NorthFace to invent their outdoor clothing range. I also don't see having a compare and contrast between Irish and Scottish Gaelic culture as any embarrassment towards my country

[@cooldaddy2877]

sorry, you are wrong. The kilt was not a natural development in Scotland. It was a forced development after the fall of the leine. There is absolutely no reason for stating the Irish would have followed the Scots. IF there was no English interference in Scotland or Ireland, we would both be wearing the léine. The only reason the Gaelic Revival adopted the kilt was because they were not given enough help and advice from the National Museum when Pearse visited. Also, the leine is not dead, or a medieval oddity, as I wear it everyday.

[@cooldaddy2877]

@@NuclearHaggis the Irish Kilt is indeed nonsense. The léine is the natural native attire of the Irish as well as the Scots Highlanders.

[@ajrwilde14]

@@cooldaddy2877 is the leine the Irish form of the plaid?

[@crossthreadaeroindustries8554]

Every tradition is a new tradition at some point.

[@athollmoray]

I have several Irish kilts that are very nice indeed...

[@TheEggmaniac]

The modern Irish kilt is based on the Scottish kilt of around the 1890s. The Irish kilt being traditionally green or saffron in colour. The idea of Irish tartans didnt exist until the 1960s ,when people started inventing them. Catching on to the idea of how popular different tartans were, with people from Scotland or of Scottish decent. More recently Welsh and Breton kilts and tartans have been created. Its all great business for selling kilts to folk.

[@mjtriola5638]

The Irish nationalists decided to adopt the kilt as a symbol of Gaelic culture in the late 1800s for political reasons. Irish-descended bagpipers in London and the UK would compete while wearing the kilt. Generally they wore solid grey or dark grey woolen kilts. The leine is no more like a kilt than a brat is like an Inverness cape. On the other hand, the Irish did weave and sell bolt upon bolt of tartan cloth to the Scots. Google "Clodagh" and see the book "The Emperor's New Kilt".

[@cooldaddy2877]

@@mjtriola5638 the kilt is Scottish, the léine belongs to both and tartan belongs to many cultures around the world. The Irish certainly wore tartan in the medieval period but not clan tartans and they wore them on their brats, trews and saddles.

[@immodestlullabies]

That's a very modern photo of pearse!

[@TheCreativeMale]

Id be interested to hear your views of the Welsh Kilt. As a kilt wearer of the Griffith Tartan and national Welsh tartan. thanks

[@USAKiltsOfficial]

Erik here - It's a very new tradition. We are friends with Tony and the other fellows at Welsh Tartan Centre who produce the Welsh tartans. They are a bit different looking (by design) from Scottish tartan, as you know, having rectangular setts. We are seeing more and more Welsh gents get into kilting and you can see many kilts during St. David's Day parades now, which is a grand thing. However, I'd like to see more. As of now we have steady demand for the Welsh dragon accessories, for example. But if more guys got into it, there would be more potential to create wider variety - like a daffodil or St. David design for kilt pins. Or family name designs.

[@USAKiltsOfficial]

We did a video on it here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/faSQl4FvgM2rbMk

[@peterforden5917]

As a proud Briton ie, Welsh there is no and never has been a national welsh tartan,the Scots and Irish are the ancient enemies of Wales as can be read in Taliesen and The Mabinogion and in ancient Irish tales, it'd be like a Guards regiment wearing a swastika, the ancient language of Caledonia and the Caleds is Cumbric and the ''''''''''Picts too , the scottish oppressor are'irish invaders and immigrants and speak irish and wear irish type clothing.

[@45calibermedic]

@@peterforden5917 The swastika or fylfot is a broadly European symbol. As for who was enemies with who, let the past be the past.

[@petergrossett6763]

peter forden. Ancient enemies can become friends. Uniting against a common foe! The enemy of my enemy can be my friend. I always wondered why Wales Ireland and Scotland never fought together.

[@straycat1674]

Are there typically any family specific designs for kilts?

[@USAKiltsOfficial]

Yes, most Scottish clans have a tartan (or are associated with a tartan due to being a sept). While the Irish didn't have clan tartans like the Scots, there were a few Irish surname tartans registered and there are tartans to represent all 32 Irish counties. If you know what county your family is from, you can wear that tartan. If you're not sure, use the search function on our website and you'll get the results of where that name is commonly found in Ireland.

[@michaelodonoghue7464]

One of My Kilts is Saffron, whilst another is a Tartan which is attributed to be a Family Tartan.

[@antseanbheanbocht4993]

Family tartans simply didn't exist in Ireland, it was merely a marketing gimic by kilt manufacturers to increase sales in Ireland. Your saffron kilt is based on the Irish leine, a long shirt belted at the waist and posibbly dyed with saffron. Highlanders dress similarly before the kilt became popular. I think the only portrait of an Irish Cheif in traditional dress is that of Nial O Neil who fought with the British at the Battle of the Boyne and was mortally wounded during it. There are some rough drawings of the chief of the Mac Sweeneys which are likely more for propaganda although the dress is probably accurate. There are also some rough drawings of Irish Gallogliadh in Germany with their helpers.

[@cooldaddy2877]

have you ever dyed with saffron? If you did, you would know that your so called saffron kilt is not saffron. Dying with saffron gives a sunflower yellow colour.....which was the colour of the Irish léine.

[@chefkdowg]

What colour accessories do you wear with the saffron kilt? Brown, black?

[@USAKiltsOfficial]

Either Brown or Black... whatever mood you're in that day. :-) There is no 'correct' answer for that questions, only opinions and context.

[@cooldaddy2877]

preferably, you dont wear the saffron kilt because it makes a mockery of Irish tradition. If you wanted to look Irish then wear the léine.

[@robinrobyn1714]

Black.

[@adamwiggins9865]

The Irish regiment of Canada has a nice saffron coloured tartan... looks sharp with a horsehair sporran, brown hose tops & spats and that big dipping Cabean & Hackle... ( I used to think it was a beret)

[@cooldaddy2877]

its not saffron. Saffron colour when dyed is a light sunflower yellow. This is the true colour of the Irish.

[@brucecollins641]

@@cooldaddy2877 saffron was only adopted in ireland in the late 1800s/early 1900s. kilts in scotland are not that auld. before that they would wrap a length of tartan plaid round them. the kilt is fairly recent in ireland. saffron was used in scotland before ireland but it was only the elite that wore it as it was too expensive(on a par with gold)for the ordinary jock.

[@cooldaddy2877]

You are wrong about the saffron. There are countless references to it in medieval Ireland. Do some research. You are correct about the kilt, both Scottish and Irish. Again, you are wrong about the saffron in Scotland. It was the Gaels of Ireland that brought the idea to Scotland.@@brucecollins641

[@brucecollins641]

@@cooldaddy2877 the gaels is nonsense. it's gallic in scotland. gallic would have crossed over to ireland where irish monks changed it to gaelic to suit their narrative of the biblical origins of the gaels. kilts are scottish. irish nationalists adopted much o the scottish music and culture in the late 1800s to distance ireland from it's anglo-norman roots fiddle reel music/stepdance/ceilidths/ceilidth music(accordian and all)kilts/bagpipes etc. type in........irish kilts: the ultimate guide to everything you need to know.....

[@cooldaddy2877]

The Gaels are nonsense? Really? Gaelic/Gallic was Irish first. Are you serious? Kilts are Scottish, yes. You are welcome to them....but they were adapted from the Irish Brat. I know the Irish kilts are bogus, everyone does...apart from the Americans. I lecture on Gaelic clothing (Irish and Scottish) so I know what I am talking about. @@brucecollins641

[@halbarbour7340]

What about Welsh Kilts?

[@adamwiggins9865]

Don’t forget the Cabean & Hackle

[@Mocaknight]

I'm Irish enough and I'm wearing em anyways

[@TerryKeever]

Were there Irish military units in WWII? Ireland was not part of UK then and was neutral? Right?

[@vestty5802]

Irish have a certain type of kilt

[@cooldaddy2877]

no, not true. The bogus Irish kilt was a short lived invention by Republicans from about 1890 to about 1910. It never caught on with the Irish public because it was not Irish. The léine is Irish.

[@vestty5802]

Cool Daddy it was used by Irish in the British army for ceremonial purposes

[@hmm2598]

The irish adopted the kilt style from the scttish and now im gonna adopt the kilt style from the irish!

[@cooldaddy2877]

the Irish never adopted the kilt. Only a handful of Republicans wore it at the start of the twentieth century...and for a very short time. The true Irish attire is the léine.

[@cooldaddy2877]

The léine "cartoony and weird?"....well I wear the léine almost every day.

[@stephenstewart175]

The 17th C. body found wearing Tartan "trews" appears to show a prevalence of this fabric in Ireland at this period and possibly earlier & may suggest Tartan arrived with Gaelic populations settling in Western Scotland? & Whiskey ( whisky) also perhaps?

[@patrickquinnofficial]

Tartan has been found in bogs in Ireland for well over 6000 years

[@poundlandbandit6124]

The Irish wore leines or feileadh mor garbs. Usually saffron they might have only had tartan sashes.

[@cooldaddy2877]

"wore"....some still do.

[@vestty5802]

Well Gaelic culture was transported to Scotland from Ireland

[@NuclearHaggis]

This culture didn't exist until the 19th century and even then it's based on 17th century culture. Neither of which were transported from Ireland. And archeology has proven that Goidelic Celts have been present in Scotland as long as anywhere else. This Dal Riata was an Irish invasion nonsense all stems from a tenth century document masquerading as a fifth century document.

[@thegrandpotato6014]

If anything it was the opposite

[@thenextshenanigantownandth4393]

@@thegrandpotato6014 The scoti was a genetic term for the Irish by the romans who moved to Northern Britain, there was no gaelic culture in Northern Britian. It was dominated by the picts who were essentially welsh. books.google.be/books?id=ZSHhfOM-5AEC&pg=PA91#v=onepage&q&f=false The romans writers make clear the scotti where from Hibernia.

[@cooldaddy2877]

and your point is? When the culture was transported, the clothing was the léine and brat.

[@ajrwilde14]

@@NuclearHaggis genetic tests on people in West Scotland show they are related to people in the North of Ireland, if the Gaels in West Scotland didn't come from N. Ireland where did they come from?

[@lightningspirit2166]

The irish Scots Welsh etc.. have always worn free legged garments in history ,so what's the problem with irish wearing a kilt, it's a free legged garment and in that respect the same as a leine , plus Scots are descended from the hibernia irish scotti who settled in pictish caledonia,so Scott's is irish anyway ! Just wear a irish kilt as a expression of gaelic unity if you want to as a irish person and sod the pedantic irish killjoys who have issues ,kilt ,leine it's all the one as a free legged garment,and we lrish like leg freeeedom!

[@lapislazulii141]

I believe it’s original origin stems from Egypt. If you look at the Pharaoh, it is quite similar. The Irish-Egyptian connection is pretty well known.

[@cooldaddy2877]

yawn. Please, enough. We have connections, much stronger with other countries but we don't wear their clothing. The true Irish traditional clothing is the léine, brat and ionar.

[@timothycook337]

The bagpipes are totally Egyptian.

[@adammacgreagoir4924]

@@timothycook337 Actually the oldest bagpipes ever found were in Ireland

[@irishakita]

@@adammacgreagoir4924 but the first bagpipes were known to be in the eastern Mediterranean

[@drelouksaudiomultiartizt-t5638]

You're not a Irish Historian but ya'll sell and make kilts well Irish had them before Scottish & Irish got it from Spain so there's a huge junk missing there that's why Galacians wear kilts

[@brucecollins641]

the kilt in ireland is a late 1800s adoption from scotland. as are bagpipes/fiddles/fiddle reel music /ceilidths/stepdance and more. irish nationalists were looking to distance themselves from the colonial english. whose better culture to adopt...the scots..

[@Kurdedunaysiri]

Kils is a celtic wear !

[@cooldaddy2877]

no, kilts are a Scottish thing only.

[@cooldaddy2877]

no, kilts are modern Scottish.

[@patrickquinnofficial]

Irish have had plaid tartan found in a bog in kerry 6000 years ago

[@Meeeeemeeeee9659]

It's funny cause those kilts are Scottish 🤫

[@USAKiltsOfficial]

The gent on the right is wearing a Co. Wexford tartan kilt.

[@petergrossett6763]

Yes the kilt is Irish.

[@richiethemage2646]

Originally Scottish

[@petergrossett6763]

Richie the mage Equally kilts are Scottish.Certainly the Scots are most. Associated with the kilt.I was born in Scotland, dads family 100% Scottish.Mums family Irish 100%. That makes me a gael guess what the kilt is of the gael. The Scots came. from Ireland and moved to western Scotland.

[@shannonsumrall6245]

@@petergrossett6763 "Kilt" is an old Norse word so actually it is Scandinavian as so many Scandinavians had been settling in Scotland and Ireland for a long time before the Viking age.

[@petergrossett6763]

Shannon Sumrall Thank you explains a lot. Kilts go back to the ancient Egyptians who worshipped amongst other, the goddess Scoti or something near.Greeks too have associations with the kilt Amongst others. When I said the kilt is Irish,it is. Not totally and only Irish or.exclusively Irish. But it is Irish!

[@lanceroark6386]

Peter Grossett you sir, are awesome. I was going to comment on this, but I doubt my comment would be received with any acceptance, so I didn’t. The Hebrew’s lived in Goshen, Egypt and were shepherds. They produced wool fabrics that were sought after on par with Chinese Silk Fabric. Joseph’s coat of many colors was likely a longer and plaid form of “cloak” that he was given than his brothers. I would disagree that the Scot’s came from the Irish as they probably came from the Saxon’s and the Scythians. Angry Bastard Kilts has some info on this, as well as another source I found that claims the same. If the second and unnamed source is correct, the Scot’s are direct descendants of Isaac, through Jacob, Judah and Zerah. Being of Judah, the Scot’s would therefore have a royal lineage; which explains the Rampant Lion on their flag. The English, even though they’re tyrants, are of Perez’s line (Zerah’s twin), which makes them royal, but of the King’s line; which gave them the Golden Rampant Lion. So yeah, I just thought I’d add my 2 pennies.