Celtic Costume Myths and Tips

A couple of popular myths about Celtic costuming that trip up reenactors:

Myth: The Kilt was worn by the Ancient Celts

Actually, the kilt, in the form of the breacan feile, or belted plaid, seems to have come along around 1550 to 1600 AD. Previously, the Gaels of Scotland, like the Irish, wore a linen or wool tunic (leine) and a large cloak (brat). For more information on the development of the kilt, see Scottish Clothing, ca. 1100 – 1800 AD.

The modern kilt seems to have been invented around 1745 or so. There are several stories as to who invented it. One is that a blacksmith had his tailor cut off the ‘top’ part of the breacan feile, and stitch the pleats into the kilt, as a way to make a less cumbersome garment; the other is that a factory owner wanted a less cumbersome or voluminous garment for his workers, and asked a tailor to make up a smaller kilt. Personally, I prefer the former. Moreover, McClintock says that some nobles had the pleats sewn into their belted plaids, for greater ease in putting them on every day; it is a simple step to cutting off the cloth above the waist and using the remainder as the feileadh beag (small kilt).

There are several ‘reconstructions’ of a man’s garment based on a piece of cloth from about 750 BC that supposedly consists of a piece of cloth wrapped and tied around the waist, and attached with straps over the shoulders; however, the piece of cloth this is based on is actually too small to substantiate this reconstruction.  So, there is no early sarong-style Irish ‘kilt’.

Myth: The word ‘Kilt’ comes from ‘Celt’

The Oxford English Dictionary states that the word kilt comes from Middle English, and is probably of Scandinavian origin, probably from the Danish word kilte, meaning ‘to tuck up.’ The term kilt is a Scots term (Scots is an English dialect), not the Gaelic term for the belted plaid. The Gaelic term for a kilt is breacan feile for the belted plaid, or feileadh beag for the modern kilt. (Breacan means ‘the tartan cloth’; feileadh means ‘wrap’, and beag means small. McClintock, p. 37.)

Myth: The term ‘Tartan’ comes from ‘Tartar’, and tartan cloth was introduced by trade with the Tartars / The ancient Celts didn’t have Tartan.   OR — the Ancient Celts lived in China.

The word ‘tartan’ comes from the French word tiretaine, which probably refers to linsey-woolsey cloth. This is the word that English writers used to refer to the Scottish cloth. The Gaelic word for tartan is breacan (variegated).

The Celts have worn many-colored and checked fabrics from time immemorial (as did some of the surrounding cultures). Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni, is described as having worn a gown of many colors, and checkered cloth has been found in the Salzburg salt mines (which the Celts mined for salt).

The recent find of the Mummies of Urumchi has stirred up a lot of interest about the tartan-style materials found in some of the graves.  Unfortunately, this has led to some speculation that the mummies are the remnants of a long-lost Celtic tribe.  This is NOT the case — the mummies are mostly members of a group called the Tocharians, which split off from the core Indo-European language group at about the same time the Celts did, so they retained some characteristics (linguistic and textile) similar to those retained by the Celts.  However, the language they spoke was not Celtic.  Other Indo-European groups such as the Scythians (who also were not Celts) wore checked fabrics that might be called tartans; and a garment called the Thorsberg Mantle has been found in the Baltic region which has a blue-and-white check — but it was made by Teutonic/Nordic people, not Celts.  So the very idea of tartan or checked cloth is not unique to the Celts; the Celts simply took the idea and carried it down to modern times, whereas other groups either stopped using it (presumably other Indo-European groups like the Greeks and Romans, who split off the core group much later than the Tocharians and Celts) or didn’t have it to begin with.  Some checked fabrics have also been found in South America, but that doesn’t mean that the Mayans were Celts, either.  It’s a simple matter to have two colors in the warp of a fabric, then put two colors in the weft, and wind up with checks — then to elaborate on that idea.  It stands to reason that this type of textile would arise in various places at different times.

Myth: Everybody in Ancient Times wore drab colors

Actually, the very poor often did wear clothes dyed in colors that were easy to obtain and easy to keep clean; but natural sources for colorful dyes were readily available for the taking. Colors were very popular and widely used. See Dyes for more information. A note of caution, though: one of the worst things I’ve seen was a leine in a very bright canary-yellow cotton. The color is all wrong; only an aniline dye can make a yellow so obviously unnatural. For a better idea of what shades are available using natural dyes, check out a book on the subject in your local public library.  Lastly, the Romans noted the Celts’ fondness for brightly colored clothing.

Myth:  The medieval Irish leine’s sleeve had to have been pleated or gathered to accomodate the huge amout of fabric used.

The historical costuming list has had a lot of discussion over the years about the construction of the late-period Irish leine.  The general consensus is that the sleeve is neither pleated nor has a drawstring along the top — it’s shaped more like the long sleeve of a Japanese kimono, but more rounded at the lower end.  The practice of either sewing in pleats or a drawstring comes from an attempt a few decades ago to figure out how to incorporate 6 or more yards of material into the leine.  However, given that the material used was probably only about 30 inches wide — well, that makes a big difference in construction.  You could easily use two yards of 30″ wide fabric in each sleeve, and another three to four yards in the body of the garment, and not have an overwhelmingly large garment.  Moreover, only the very wealthy would have been able to afford lots and lots of extra fabric in their leine.  See the last illustration on this pagefor a good look at the sleeve of a poor man’s leine — it clearly isn’t as full as some of the other sleeves on this page, and is shoved up a bit at the elbow.

Other Tips:

DON’T use buttons if your persona is prior to about 1300. They weren’t introduced into England prior to that; and I’m still tracking down a date for their introduction into Ireland. DO use brooches, toggles, ties and lacing to close garments and attach items. (It’s easier than stitching buttonholes, anyway.)

DON’T use polyester/synthetic materials, especially if you’re going to be out in hot weather and/or near any kind of flame, even if it’s just a candle. DO use natural fibers like wool, linen and cotton. Natural fibers ‘breathe’ better in hot weather, and they don’t stick to your skin if you accidentally catch your garb on fire (polyester does stick to the skin, and can result in much worse burns). Real wool doesn’t burn as quickly as linen or cotton; it smoulders first, which gives you time to notice that something’s amiss and remedy the situation. A wool/poly blend may be ok, since the wool content might retard the burning tendencies of the polyester, but burn a swatch to see what it does if you’re unsure.

Cotton wasn’t introduced to Europe until the Middle Ages, and even so was horrendously expensive until the invention of the Cotton Gin in the 19th century made the cotton fiber process cheaper, so it isn’t quite ‘period’ for early Celtic, but it has the advantage of being inexpensive, so you can work out the details of your costume before making a final version in more expensive wool and linen. You can also find cotton/linen blends, which will pass for linen (well, they drape slightly differently) but cost less.

Real linen costs more than cotton, but worth it if you’ve got a pattern that works well for you, since it wicks moisture away from the body better and wears a lot better over the long term than cotton does, and gets more comfortable the more you wear it. A cotton garment will wear out in just a few seasons of moderate use.

Other Pet Peeves:

That under-boob bodice that lots of people wear — it’s WRONG.  Nobody was wearing a bodice like that until the Victorian era, when people started coming up with all kinds of folk-costumes that had tenuous connections at best with what people wore in the past.  The only bodice that went under the bust is the type worn by Flemish working women in the 15th century over their woolen kirtles — which gave them enough structure and bust support that their breasts weren’t exposed.  If you want to look like a fantasy wench, fine, but it’s neither authentic nor attractive..

It’s ‘Keltic,’ not ‘Seltic’, dammit! The Celtics (with an ‘s’ sound at the front) are a basketball team. The Celts (with a ‘k’ sound at the front) would have pronounced it as a hard ‘c’.

Originally posted here in 1997.

Early Celtic Hair, Jewelry, Etc.

Contrary to popular opinion, people in ancient times didn’t always live in a state of filth and squalor.  The Romans (who were known for their own baths) noted that the Celts were quite particular about bathing and personal grooming, including their elaborate hairstyles.

Bathing — The Celts bathed, and did so frequently — every day, in fact (Joyce, Vol. 2, p. 185). In fact, the they used soap, and introduced it to the Romans, who previously used sand and strigils (sticks) to clean themselves. They also washed their clothes on a regular basis — in laws regulating fosterage, it is decreed that a foster child must have two brats, which are to be washed every other day. Hair was combed daily after a bath (Joyce, Vol. 2, p. 178).

Soap — Some sources state that the Celts invented soap; however, I haven’t been able to trace a source for this information, and have also read that soap was invented in Babylon. It’s entirely possible that soap was discovered independently in several places. If anyone has documentation for this information, please let me know.

The Old Irish word for soap is ‘sle/ic’. People washed their hands with soap in the morning, and bathed with soap in the evening, also applying oil and scented herbs after the bath.

Fingernails — Among the higher classes in Ireland, the fingernails were kept well-groomed; one warrior is spoken of disapprovingly in a text as having ‘ragged nails,’ which was considered shameful. Women sometimes dyed their nails crimson. When Deirdre laments the deaths of the sons of Uisnech, she says: “I shall sleep no more, and I shall not crimson my nails: no joy shall ever again come upon my mind.” (Joyce, Vol. 2, p. 176)

Makeup — Ladies sometimes dyed their eyebrows black with berry juice (I don’t know what kind of berry was used): “A bowl she has whence berry-juice flows, with which she colours her eyebrows black.” Irish missionary monks were also known to paint or dye their eyelids black. The cheeks were also reddened using a plant called ‘ruam’ — probably the sprigs and berries of the alder tree. It is not clear whether only women reddened their cheeks, or men as well. (Joyce, Vol. 2, p. 177)

Hair — Hair seems to have been usually worn long by the free classes, based on descriptions by Classical and early Irish sources and depictions in Irish artwork. Notable exceptions are the Roman sculpture of the ‘dying Gaul’, and the soldier from the Book of Kells, who has hair that looks like a “bowl” cut tilted forward — long over his eyes and short in the back his head. This style looks very much like the ‘glib’ style worn by soldiers in late medieval Ireland, as can be seen in a picture by Albrecht Durer entitled “Here go the peasants in Ireland” (1521). It seems to have been restricted to soldiers, though; otherwise, hair was worn long, with or without a beard. Mairead Dunleavy states that

Aristocratic men were either clean-shaven or had both a beard and a moustache while soldiers and lower-class men wore a long moustache without an accompanying beard. This antipathy on the part of the aristocracy to the moustache worn alone carried through to the medieval period. (Dunleavy, p. 21)

Beards were often worn forked, as depicted in the various Irish tales and artwork. other styles show one single unforked beard, sometimes with a square cut to the bottom. Mustaches were sometimes worn curled up at the ends. One of my sources says that working people were prohibited from wearing beards, but I don’t know whether ‘working people’ refers to free landholders or to slaves. (Joyce, Vol. 2, p. 183)

Both men and women wore their hair in multiple elaborate curls and braids, sometimes with gold balls fastened to the end of the hair. In the Tain Bo Culaigne, a beautiful woman is described as having three braids of hair wound round her head, and the fourth hanging down her back to her ankles; and one of the tests for membership in the Fianna (a warrior group in early Ireland) was that the candidtate had to run through a wood, chased by the entire Fianna, without having a braid of his hair loosened by the branches. (Joyce, vol. 2, p. 180)

Numerous types of hair ornaments were used — the aforementioned hollow golden balls worn at the ends of tresses of hair; gold, silver, or bronze hair ribbons; thin flexible gold plates of some sort; a golden or bronze fillet (forehead-band) that charioteers wore around their foreheads.

Below: various pins (left) and a razor (right):

          

Hair combs were made of bone or horn, with strips of metal strengthening them. Razors were in use as well, as well as mirrors. Women carried a small bag (ci/orbholg, i.e. comb bag) containing their toiletries.

Below: combs from early medieval Ireland (top) and Scotland (bottom):

 

All of this hair preparation took a great deal of time, and chiefs and kings had their own barbers. (Joyce, Vol. 2, p. 183)

Jewelry:

The Irish Celts wore great quantities of gold and other fine jewelry, including imported jewelry using lapis lazuli, amber, and faience. Glass and jet beads were also used. The amber that has been found is NOT rough; it is usually turned into fine beads.

Different styles of torcs were used in various periods.

Earrings (various hoop styles) and finger rings were worn, as well as fillets (a band of metal or cloth around the crown of the head) and veils.

Old Irish Terms:

• minn — diadem of gold, worn by a queen
• lann — thin band of gold, worn on the forehead or neck

The Celts adopted the ‘safety-pin’ type of fibula around the 3rd century BC. (Dunleavy, p. 17)

Also see:
A link to a page with some Bronze Age jewelry
Rialto Archive article on tattoos in Early Europe
Bodies of the Bogs

Originally published here in 1997.