{"id":9598,"date":"2020-01-16T11:16:11","date_gmt":"2020-01-16T16:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/e-gen.info\/?page_id=9598"},"modified":"2020-01-16T11:40:23","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T16:40:23","slug":"why-did-scots-wear-kilts-what-was-the-practical-purpose","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/e-gen.info\/?page_id=9598","title":{"rendered":"Why did Scots wear kilts? What was the practical purpose?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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From<\/div>\n
Quora Digest, <\/em>the online Question-Answer Forum*<\/div>\n
Answered by Chrissie Nyssen, who lives in Scotland<\/div>\n
6\/12\/19<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\"Chrissie<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A kilt was originally a blanket, worn by cattle drovers and shepherds, belted at the waist, and could be unrolled and used as a blanket at night to sleep in. The kilts you see nowadays with their pressed pleats and fancy embellishments are largely a Victorian invention, that has evolved from the original working man\u2019s blanket-garment.<\/p>\n

Response by Chris Hawkes
\nJune 12, 2019<\/p>\n

I used to climb with a crofter\u2019s son from Mull. When we camped, he\u2019d carry half our tent but would always sleep outside with his kilt (filleadh m\u00f2r?) wrapped around him like an enormous blanket. I don\u2019t think he did this because of my sleeping habits! (He also told me that on very cold nights he would soak the plaid in water to make it more insulating. I\u2019m not sure I believe that part!)<\/p>\n

Response by Rachel Taylor
\nJune 18, 2019<\/p>\n

That\u2019s true Chris. That’s what the highlanders used to do.<\/p>\n

Response by Philip Machanick
\nJanuary 6, 2020<\/p>\n

I hope no one suggested it was a skirt. People have been kilt for less.<\/p>\n

* This question was originally answered as, “Why did the Scottish wear kilts? Why wasn’t there a kilt (or skirt) wearing tradition in other parts of the UK?”<\/p>\n

Answered by Seren Verch Dafydd
\nJune 15, 2019<\/p>\n

The traditional Scottish kilt with its sew in pleats, belt loops, and pins is modern, dating from the time of Queen Victoria. The Scottish Highlanders, the Irish, Welsh and other native tribes of Britannia all wore a similar piece of clothing called a Great kilt which was a long piece of cloth about a 3\u2032 to 4\u2032 wide and 27\u2032 long. It was pleated around the body and held in place with a belt and the last 6\u2032 to 9\u2032 was pulled up across the body and draped over the shoulder. It served as clothing and blanket, tent, etc.<\/p>\n

The men and women also wore loose tunics under the kilt. These were basically an outline of the body on the material which cut out and then stitched by hand. Overtime the shirts\/tunics lengthened and most men in the early middle wore what we would recognize as dresses [robes]. Rural people learned to make trews [loose pants] which were basically cut out like the tunics. Outline the body, cut out and sew up and add a draw string. If you look at most any culture you see similar garments.<\/p>\n

Last revised 1\/16\/20<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Quora Digest, the online Question-Answer Forum* Answered by Chrissie Nyssen, who lives in Scotland 6\/12\/19 A kilt was originally a blanket, worn by cattle drovers and shepherds, belted at the waist, and could be unrolled and used as a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2495,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9598","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-gen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-gen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-gen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-gen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-gen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9598"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/e-gen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9604,"href":"https:\/\/e-gen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9598\/revisions\/9604"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-gen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-gen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}