Tartan

There have been a few questions asked about the fact that I was wearing a kilt at the Wedding and asking who can wear a kilt and a particular tartan.

The Edwards Tartan

The tartan from which my kilt was made and which I wore for The Wedding is The Western Isles Modern tartan designed, as it happens, by the husband of the lady who made my kilt and who is an Islander. I chose it because the Edwards tartan is, in my opinion, very uninteresting.

Kilts are primarily associated with Scotland but they have traditionally also been worn by the Welsh and the Irish. They are a symbol of pride in the Celtic culture.

The plain answer is that anyone can wear a kilt and anyone can wear any tartan. There is no enforceable rules about any of these things. However (there is always a 'however') there are a few tartans which are restricted, meaning not everyone can wear them. The Balmoral tartan for example, can only be worn by members of the British Royal Family and there are still some clan tartans that can only be worn if the Clan Chief allows you to. Even in those cases, though, it is not illegal to wear the tartan — it would simply be considered in very poor taste. And in practical terms noone would sell you it so you'd probably have to weave your own!

On Being Called Edwards and Wearing Tartan

Heron recently made the following statement in his comment on one of his posts: " what clan tartan is it that is aligned with the surname of Edwards because I have always thought that name was Welsh".

As a youngster I always thought that too and aligned myself with all things Welsh from an early age.

We then had a discussion on his blog on the subject of the tartan which I wore for my kilt. 

This raised various matters which I though might be of interest to those who read my blog.

Firstly the name 'Edwards'. This surname, with variant forms Edwardes and Edwardson, is a patronymic form of the early medieval English male given name Edward, itself coming from the Olde English pre 7th Century "Eadward", composed of the elements "ead", prosperity or fortune, plus "w(e)ard", guard; hence, "prosperity guard".  However apparently it is supposed to have arisen separately in Wales.

  

Edwards is the 14th most common surname in Wales and 21st most common in England. 

Examples of Edwards Tartan

So why the tartan question? Well the Welsh as well as the Scots wear kilts and have tartans. The Edwards tartan is a dour and uninteresting cloth (in my opinion) and the idea of having a kilt in the Edwards tartan did not appeal to me at all. However for my son's wedding I could not go kiltless so had to take a decision.

Having lived the majority of my life in the Western Isles of Scotland the obvious choice was the Western Isles Modern tartan and that was what I wore. For the record my son wore the Macrae Dress tartan in the old Scottish tradition of marrying into the bride's family (Macrae).