Belted plaid
Encyclopedia
The belted plaid was a standard item of men's Highland dress from the late 16th century until the middle of the 18th century. It was also the precursor of the modern tailored kilt
Kilt
The kilt is a knee-length garment with pleats at the rear, originating in the traditional dress of men and boys in the Scottish Highlands of the 16th century. Since the 19th century it has become associated with the wider culture of Scotland in general, or with Celtic heritage even more broadly...
.
Terminology
The belted plaid has been and is often referred to by a variety of different terms, including feilidh-mhor, breacan-an-feile, and, very commonly, the Great Kilt.The term "Great Kilt" can be misleading since this garment was untailored, and modern era kilt
Kilt
The kilt is a knee-length garment with pleats at the rear, originating in the traditional dress of men and boys in the Scottish Highlands of the 16th century. Since the 19th century it has become associated with the wider culture of Scotland in general, or with Celtic heritage even more broadly...
s are tailored. The garment was most definitely not known by this name during the years of its usage.
Both the terms feilidh-mhor and breacan-an-feile are Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic language
Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish, and thus descends ultimately from Primitive Irish....
terms, the former meaning roughly "large wrap" and the latter roughly meaning "tartan wrap".
The word "plaide" in Gaelic roughly means blanket, and that was the original term for the garment in question.
Description and History
Tartan
Tartan is a pattern consisting of criss-crossed horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in many other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Scotland. Scottish kilts almost always have tartan patterns...
fabric approximately 4 or 5 yards in length and about 50 to 60 inches wide. Since the weaving loom
Loom
A loom is a device used to weave cloth. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads...
s in those years wove fabric in 25–30 inch widths, the actual item was generally constructed from 8 to 10 yards of such single-width fabric by stitching two 25–30 inch pieces together to get the 50–60 inch width.
It was typically worn as a kind of mantle or cloak
Cloak
A cloak is a type of loose garment that is worn over indoor clothing and serves the same purpose as an overcoat; it protects the wearer from the cold, rain or wind for example, or it may form part of a fashionable outfit or uniform. Cloaks are as old as human history; there has nearly always been...
cast about one's shoulders. In the latter part of the 16th Century, some in the Highlands of Scotland began putting a belt around their waist on the outside of the plaid, after first pleating or gathering the fabric.
The first clear reference to the belted plaid occurs in the year 1594. In that year, a group of Highlanders from the Western Isles went to Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
to fight under Red Hugh O'Donnell
Hugh Roe O'Donnell
Aodh Rua Ó Dónaill, anglicised as either Hugh Roe O'Donnell or Red Hugh O'Donnell , was An Ó Domhnaill and Rí of Tir Chonaill . He led the Irish forces against the English conquest of Ireland from 1593 and helped to lead the Nine Years' War from 1595 to 1603...
. Writing about them, Lughaidh noted how they could be distinguished from the Irish soldiers:
"They were recognized among the Irish soldiers by the distinction of their arms and clothing . . . for their exterior dress was mottled cloaks of many colors. . ., their belts were over their loins outside their cloaks."
The belted plaid was used not only as a garment, but also for bedding at night, the wearer wrapping himself in it and sleeping directly on the ground.
It was made from wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
or a wool/linen
Linen
Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....
combination and twill
Twill
Twill is a type of textile weave with a pattern of diagonal parallel ribs . This is done by passing the weft thread over one or more warp threads and then under two or more warp threads and so on, with a "step" or offset between rows to create the characteristic diagonal pattern. Because of this...
woven in a pattern of colored stripes which today has become known as tartan
Tartan
Tartan is a pattern consisting of criss-crossed horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in many other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Scotland. Scottish kilts almost always have tartan patterns...
, though originally the word tartan referred to the type of cloth (like linen, or cotton) and not the pattern of colors as the word almost exclusively signifies today.
These patterns (or Sett) were apparently chosen based on a sense of fashion or the availability and expense of natural dye
Natural dye
Natural dyes are dyes or colorants derived from plants, invertebrates, or minerals. The majority of natural dyes are vegetable dyes from plant sources – roots, berries, bark, leaves, and wood — and other organic sources such as fungi and lichens....
s in the area of manufacture. The modern notion of "clan tartans" whereby each clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
or name is associated with a particular design did not exist at that time, but instead dates back to the early 19th century. Thus if one desires to wear the belted plaid at Highland Games
Highland games
Highland games are events held throughout the &Highland games are events held throughout the &Highland games are events held throughout the &(-è_çà in Scotland and other countries as a way of celebrating Scottish and Celtic culture and heritage, especially that of the Scottish Highlands. Certain...
, it would not be inappropriate (much less incorrect) to wear any tartan pattern of one's choosing or invention. In fact, not all such garments were woven in strict accord with the modern definition of tartan pattern.
The Kilt at Highland Games Today
At nearly every Highland Games gathering today, there are vendors who sell tartan items, whether tailored kilts, blankets, scarves, ties, or tartan fabric. By far the greatest proportion of their sales, in the category of Highland dress, are related to "modern" Highland attire, especially the modern tailored kilt and accessories for it.This is somewhat ironic in that the present-day Highland Games, at which the modern tailored kilt is ubiquitous, can trace their origins back to the early 19th Century interest in matters related to Highland culture. (Note: this statement should not be construed to mean that the Highland Games themselves do not have antecedents going much further back in history.) This interest manifested itself in various reconstructionist events purportedly designed as a celebration of that earlier Gaelic Highland and Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
ic culture and such cultures never wore garments like the modern tailored kilt.
Instead, during the years preceding the Battle of Culloden
Battle of Culloden
The Battle of Culloden was the final confrontation of the 1745 Jacobite Rising. Taking place on 16 April 1746, the battle pitted the Jacobite forces of Charles Edward Stuart against an army commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, loyal to the British government...
, to the extent that the Highland people wore any kind of kilt-like garment, it was the belted plaid and not the modern tailored kilt. Yet the belted plaid is seldom seen today at Highland gatherings, and even knowledge about this garment is not widespread.
The origins of the modern short kilt (or feilidh-beag, meaning little wrap, and often Anglicized to philabeg with various spellings) are still much in debate. What is clear is that the philabeg originated from the belted plaid sometime in the early 18th Century, or perhaps somewhat earlier. The philabeg consisted essentially of the lower half only of a plaide, gathered or pleated and held around the waist with a belt. Later, the gatherings were stitched down to facilitate holding them in place and thus originated the modern tailored kilt.