camo and kilts....

FRASER DRESS

FRASER HUNT

Up before dawn, he donned his colors in preparation for battle.
Scottish translation, 1740 or so:  Scottish Highlander was putting on his kilt before doing battle with the British army.
Panhandle Florida translation, 2012: Bubba is putting on his camos to go deer hunting. Another example of genetic memory?  Many of the locals certainly claim their Scottish heritage as the clan vendors at our Scottish Festival will tell you.   Sales are brisk as visitors look for all sorts of items bearing their family's tartan.
      As a child, I remember the distinctive red plaid blanket on the back of our sofa.  I was always told that it was the Fraser tartan.  Later, I learned it was the dress tartan.  But I also remember my dad had a wool shirt that I was told was the hunt plaid.  It had a dark brown background.

MACGILLIVRAY DRESS

              In all fairness, I must mention that the MacGillivrays have a tartan of their own as well. These plaids with associated with a particular family name, but as Wiki points out under Tartan , they were originally associated with a region, based on dyes that were available to the area.  Not until the 1800s did families really lay claim to their own tartan.
        And the ones with the brown background?  One resource stated they were worn out in the woods, when hunting, etc. as they blended into the landscape. Today men repeat history  in the panhandle of Florida!  I did not grow up with hunters, and the men in my family today are fishermen.  But through association and thirty five years, I've learned about camouflage in addition to tartans.....but we don't hunt.

REAL TREE

US WOODLANDS