(unknown charset) Re: Kilts and Trewsers: Sense and Seasonality

From: µäv8´x
Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2005 09:32:13 -0800

Great article from John, just a minor nit-pick:

> (Tartan is itself a quite recent invention in Scotland).

Err, no, not technically. "Tartan" is a way of weaving cloth (two over, two under, and each thread is offset from it's neighbor, producing a diagonal pattern - look ) at a pair of jeans for an example) and is rather ancient . A "plaid" is a blanket (the "great kilt" is also called the "belted plaid"). What you're thinking of is properly called "clan setts" - a sett being a specific pattern of thread used in both the warp and woof of the loom (horizontal and vertical threads), which produces what we 21st century types call "a clan tartan" or "a clan plaid".

There are examples of "tartan weave" cloth from all over the world, including Scotland. There are examples of tartan patterned cloth in Scotland from before the '45. What there *isn't* is recognizable "clan setts" from before the repeal of the Act of Prohibition in 1782. (For our "Don't care about Scottish history" fans, the English banned the wearing of kilts and tartan (in the modern, not weaving, sense of the word) after the failed rebellion of 1745. (Highlanders were also prohibited from teaching their children gaelic, bearing arms, etc - the Lunar occupationa laws are somewhat based on this). The Act was repealed in 1782, and it became okay to wear tartan again. (See: http://www.ccsna.org/jsep50.htm for a quickie view on wearing tartan, and the "clan tartan" idea).

Before the advent of "Clan Tartans", weavers used the colors from the local palette to dye their clothe - if there was a lot of red dye in the neighborhood, most fabric was red. If there was a lot of green, then green, etc. People like lots of pretty colors, so combinations of local colors will produce regional variations that all look somewhat alike - "Lots of green, with some white, black and a touch of red". "Lots of red, with blue, yellow, white and brown", etc.

So what's this got to do with Glorantha? Well, you can get away with having a "Clan Tartan" for your wild heortlings (Post 1782), or with having "regional variations" (Pre 1745). "Oh, aye, that's a Greydog - ye can tell by his distinct grey, white, black and red tartan" *or* "well, he probably comes from the Thunder hills area, that particualr shade of blue is only found there".

Results of a youth spent in a 16th cent. Scottish re-creation society...

RR
C'est par mon ordre et pour le bien de l'Etat que le porteur du pr=C8sent a fait ce qu'il a fait.
- Richelieu


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