What Is The History of Clan Knit Aran Sweaters?

[@richarddaugherty8583]

I got my first Aran sweater this autumn and I loved it so much I bought another one. They are comfy warm, made of merino wool which doesn't itch, and the cables and fancy stiches look great. The price was reasonable too. I can see why fisherman going out on the Atlantic (brrrr) would prize such a sweater. Wool keeps 80% of it's ability to keep you warm when it's wet. That would be priceless to those guys.

[@theologyman]

I am glad you sorted this out because I daily get people trying to sell me an Aran sweater.

[@Aw-zc2lt]

The Frank Meadow Sutcliffe photographs is a good source for fishing history and a close look at knitting patterns. I wear a 'ganseys' all the time in winter and definitely recommended.

[@Ms.Vivian-wd9ru]

I really like how you mention being honest and truthful with yourself for the reasons that you are connecting with the product . When I create something I do have a tendency to try to find some kind of heritage or deep significance ; but truly i just like to make it look nice for whomever I’m making it for that might suit their specific personality or style . Thank you for “Keepin’ it Real“, as Scooby Doo would say .

[@daniellemurphy3910]

The patterns for the sweaters make the sweater very thick and if the wool retained the original oils from the sheep the sweater would repel water better. Both would make a very warm sweater but knitted sweaters also hold a lot of water (if you have ever hand washed a wool sweater you know this). There would naturally be competition in the village as to who made the best sweater, warmest, heaviest etc.. Also competition between villages. It is human nature.

[@alistaircoutts2268]

Sorry guys. My grandmother was born and raised in Lossiemouth Scotland. Small fishing village, pretty much every family there is reliant on north sea fishing, to have a family member die at sea out on the boats was pretty much a given for any family. Many of my grandmothers cousins and uncles were identified by their sweaters with bodies too decomposed to identify by any other means, wool doesn't rot. You would know by the pattern whereabouts on the coast the sailor had come from and then the women who will still waiting on their husbands or sons to return home could identify the body by the sweater, I agree the current fad is a marketing thing. There is no history of clan tradition just family and region, does loosely relate to clans because of population demographics but "Gaults" were pretty much everywhere so a Gault or McDougal pattern wouldn't help. A pattern identifying a town was actually useful as that is where the bodies could be taken to for further identification. I can only relay this as it applies to the 1900 - 1920's as my grandmother left Losi before 1920.

[@jackhanson1274]

There is no resource or any reference to this in any history of Scotland I can find. In fact, here in Scotland, the sweaters are regarded as Irish! The Victorians and Edwardians would have written themselves out of ink if this was real, we'd have books and stories and fantasy paintings. Yet, we have nothing. There is nothing. We don't even know what the patterns could have meant because the invented history about regional verification is so popular. There is an issue as well that the contemporary Aran sweater emerges as fashion in the 1940s, we don't really seem to know, or at least I'm having tremendous trouble tracking down, what the poor fishermen would have been wearing. I have found a reference to simpler jumpers being made for work and the more fancy stuff being a "Sunday Best" of sorts. I've got the book that was referenced in the mail, I will update this message if I find anything new. All of this to say: if your Grandmother remembered something, it's not what we're looking at today, without evidence we have to put this in the "maybe" pile. There's one final, even more insulting element to this: the fabricated history is overshadowing the much richer and, I would argue, far more interesting history. For a start, there is a much more complete tradition of sweater making in East Anglia in England. Norfolk particularly has an amazing range of designs. Their designs are so compelling and so varied that photos of Norfolk(-ian? -ish?) fishermen are uploaded on the internet tagged as Irish! Their culture is being lifted straight out of their hands because there is an assumption that those stitching patterns are Irish! Take a look here: www.northfolk.org.uk/ganseys/ Secondly, the name for these sweaters in Irish is geansaí and in Scottish Gaelic it's called a geansaidh. These are from the English guernsey, which is in reference to specifically the Island of Guernsey where much of this originates. The Guernsey tradition is far older than anything in Scotland and Ireland and it is something I know painfully little about. Even so, I hope you can see that there's something worth our time here. Two smaller cultures, no less important parts of the history of Britain, are being written over so that the fantasy of "clans" can be used to sell junk to tourists.

[@TerryKeever]

Thanks for sharing. Sounds logical and reasonable for patterns to be similar in a fishing village of that time..

[@BCSchmerker]

+USAKiltsOficial *Thanks for the costume-designer perspective.* Cable knits were distinguishable by town and/or village, so a catalog of municipalities could've been formed.

[@ltp9019]

I am now enlightened...awesome! I mean, I get marketing, but dang. Thank you bunches for the knowledge!

[@hanzosbm1]

I bought one for my mother knowing it was BS, but it's still fun. Also, the marketing thing is how the Sobieski Stuarts got the whole clan tartan thing, and now that's pretty well established, so...who knows what our grandchildren will think.

[@mzaliwa]

There is a much stronger tradition of localised patterns on fishermen's ganseys from the east coast of England. The fable of identification of drowned bodies by specific patterns has long been told about them. Tight-knitted ganseys from fine spun wool are far better sea wear than bulky aran sweaters. IMHO.

[@gordonstewart8258]

Some years ago there was an idea going around that tartan was based on the ogam script, and could actually be read. Total nonsense, of course, but a lot of people bought into it.

[@24934637]

Well Thank You! You've educated me and corrected my belief in a myth that I was told over 40 years ago. Pervasive myths such as this one REALLY annoy me, and I'm very happy to have my knowledge base corrected.Another really well known one is the one relating to knives and swords, that the shallow groove that runs down the length of a blade is called the 'Blood groove' and it's there to make blood flow out faster so that your enemy dies quicker, and bleeds out, plus it also reduces suction when withdrawing the blade and makes it easier to pull out.....ABSOLUTE RUBBISH! PURE LIES! It's really called a 'Fuller',and the purpose is to give strength and rigitity to the blade while keeping it light weight similar to how an 'I beam' works in a building.

[@itsapittie]

Every tradition starts somewhere. Tartans were made up out of thin air at one point, but now they serve to connect people. I agree you shouldn’t claim historicity for knit sweaters, but if people embrace it and claim it as their own, then it has meaning.

[@williamthompson2941]

? aren't those cable knits being advertised, Aron Isle which would make them Scottish anyway

[@davedove67]

You're not fooling me! I know those patterns were bestowed upon the prehistoric people of Aran by the Irish gods!

[@michaelmangan1704]

You both are doing well, but you need more homework!! The Oldest building in the Aryn Isles is the Stone Tombs of St Michael science 101 in fact they are likley the oldest buidling on earth older than the anatolian or turk settlement talked about gobltepke. In the St Michaels Arch Angel temple tomb there are weaves carved in stone that are made to catch fish then clothing this is older that the pyramids egypt or sumeria by the time just after expolision of adam and eve for eves evil tempting of adam. The Pre Irish predate the cradles of civilization hence the spear or sword of St Michaels tombs from Ireland Ayran to england to france to italy to jerusalem. These knits with wool are so old but resurface several times through history and in fact they not only did a National Geographic special showing these weaves and knits they sow them bringing the wheel,horse tack, goat sheep to asia by the Gobi desert burial of Blonde hair blue eyes and Red HAir blue and green eyes and the oldest Blood known not from africa or asia called O Neg. The dead buried with Irish knit tatoos on their arms. Conclusion you guys we like but please do more homework in the vatican that holds the ancient pre Irish skins and scrolls and rocks showcasing the aryn knits from St Michaels tombs. PS scotish just means Irish in roman latin as these romans couldnt say EARRR since they lived on water the roman generals called them blue scotians which became scotlans scotish and even their dialect as the welsh come from Irelands much older 1500 year language as is their basque and berber cousins. Your welcome and ps2- Blanket kilts were Irish techniques with and without pleats as the vatican has burial evidence similar to the fisherman identification of seater knits and more important fishing nets. Again you need more acheaology and vatican evidence to prove the science. And never listen to masonic devils of satan Encyclopedia Britanica as you will learn distorted lies to suit their narrative of lies. Happy St Patricks day(the english celt who came to Gods sacred land of the Pre IRISH ATLANTEANS