Freaks Fun Friday: The Scottish Kilt
So, what if it’s Saturday? I didn’t have enough time for anything the last few days. Maybe I’ll tell you about it on Monday. For now, I need to go to bed. 
I am a freak, I admit it. When I was younger, I actually enjoyed going to school (go ahead, laugh at me) — not because I wanted to meet my friends, but because I loved learning new stuff. It hasn’t changed all that much. I’m still delighted if I manage to smuggle facts into my stories without anyone noticing. at this place, I’ll give you access to my twisted mind. Welcome to a Freak’s Fun Friday.
I’m currently putting together the files I need for publishing a print version of “Scotland’s Guardians” and noticed that I never mentioned the Scotsmen’s best known garment. Well, I’ve had a good reason. The people Bryanna meets during her travels did not know kilts like the ones we’re used to seeing today. Originally, Scottish people wore the belted plaid, an extra large piece of fabric in tartan colors. It was meant for wrapping around ones body, and it was long enough to be used as a cape or a blanket too.
quote: “The philibeg or small kilt, also known as the walking kilt (similar to the modern kilt) was invented by an English Quaker from Lancashire called Thomas Rawlinson sometime in the 1720s for the use of the Highlanders he and Iain MacDonnell, chief of the MacDonnells of Inverness employed in logging, charcoal manufacture and iron smelting, for which the belted plaid was “cumbrous and unwieldy.
This story has become well known, due in part to the historian Hugh Trevor-Roper’s work, but more recent evidence has shown this theory to be out of date as several illustrations have been found of Highlanders wearing only the bottom part of the belted plaid that date long before Rawlinson ever set foot in Scotland. There is some suggestion of its use in the 1690s, and it was definitely being worn by the early 18th century. It most likely came about as a natural evolution of the belted plaid and Rawlinson probably observed it and quickly deduced its usefulness in his situation and insisted on introducing it among his workers.” (from Wikipedia)
I do belief that this compressed history is probably the correct one, although I like the story better where the Scottish poet Robert Burns invented the kilt for a visit of the English king. In my eyes, this makes Scotsmen even weirder. What about you? Have you ever tried to imagine a Scotsman without his kilt?
