Kilt Day Killed!?!?

I was too tired to remember Kilt Day this year! 

I'm trying to tell myself that "St. Patrick's is on a Saturday this year," but the truth is I completely forgot.

It's probably for the better. There are some wild kids at the moment and they're less than settled. My kilt might have caused more trouble than horizon broadening. 

Kilt Day 2017

Still doing it.

Kilt Day 2016

Every year, I wonder "Should I do it?"

And every year, I have.

Happy Kilt and St. Paddy's Day! I worried about more than I should have. I think the kids were more in shock this year than most. That tamed the comments down. I always act like the kilt's perfectly normal. A matter-of-fact tone when asked "WHY!?!" or "IS THAT A SKIRT?!?" helps, too. 

"It's St. Paddy's Day. I do what I want" or "My wife likes it," solves all.

Kids need a shock on occasion.

Carrie decided to have her own St. Patrick's Day fun at work. She used a pen to tattoo her coworkers.

And her self, of course!

Shane caught the kilt spirit around 7:00 PM. Carrie was delighted.

Joy overflowed.

Kilt Day 2015

Yeah, I did it again. Carrie loves the calves.

Kilt Day 2014

Saint Patrick's Day wasn't cancelled due to snow. Carrie cooked red cabbage, potatoes, and corned beef to fuel me up to wear my kilt the day after!

Tuesday, March 18th Kilt Day 2014 was upon us! Belated, but not forgotten. The tradition is now six years strong.

Originally, I was afraid I would have to skip it. Tuesday was supposed to be an SOL test day. I didn't want to cause a "man in skirt" testing irregularity. The snow caused a two-hour delay, however, and the test periods were moved to Thursday.

I surprised Carrie by bounding downstairs in kilt hose and kilt. She loves Kilt Day more than anyone! She said, "Watch Shane!" and ran off to find my sporran and any other accessory necessities I'd forgotten.

The day went much as Kilt Days go. Middle school brains were blown. I played it a little more gruff this year. If a student said they liked my 'outfit' I replied, "Outfit? Outfit!? This is a KILT!" Sometimes I substituted Kilt with "MAN skirt" (emphasis on MAN!). If a student asked why I was wearing it I might have said "Because I can" or "I have the knees for it." It's all in good fun.

The kids this year were more tactful than most. They'd usually wait until they were around the corner to react. I'd start each class with the usual kilt history lesson. "First off, this isn't an Irish kilt; it's Scottish. Irish kilts are usually uni-color and not as old a tradition. Scottish kilts are the tartan pattern. They can show your affiliation to your clan, a region, a city, or a number of other things. The Black Watch have their own tartan patterns. The Irish regiments actually have their own patterns and pipers, too."

My history lesson normally meanders from there. One kid normally asks if I play the bagpipes ("No. I have no musical talent. Next."). Another will ask if I can dance a jig ("Nope. Can't dance," or "Irish dancers don't wear kilts and I don't know anything about Scottish line dancing.") A kid who listened and was interested will ask something like "If you're Irish why are you wearing a Scottish kilt?" At this point, I mention some things I learned from Uncle Jim's research about the other Irish names in the family and how it was probably a displaced Scottsman who was imported by the British into northern Ireland who gave me my name (since it is clearly Scottish, but there's no other traceable link to Scottland in my ancestry). I try to go light on the me and bring up names in history for any kid who's interested enough to Google. I'm a history nerd, so it's nice to talk about history some.

The staff reactions are always fun, too. I had a teacher tell me that kilt day was her "favorite day of the year," I heard kilts at wedding stories from other teachers, and I even wiki'd a couple of last names of my co-teachers for five minutes at the end of the day ("Watch out for Heather! Her clan used to rule over yours!).

All in all, it was a successful Kilt Day. I find it funny how different I look from the last one. Carrie wanted me to grow my hair out to see what it'd look like. The last time I think I was photographed in a kilt, I looked like this at family picture day! Nana loved it.

Kilt Day 2013

The last school day before Saint Patrick's Day is Kilt Day.

I've been partaking in this ritual since Carrie introduced me to kilts while we were dating. I did not know if a kilt was proper work attire, so I brought my utili-kilt that year to ask for permission. My AP gave me the go ahead, and I changed in the bathroom.

The tradition has stuck. I have thrown on my manly-skirt five years and a running.

Maybe one day Kilt Day will be an actual "thing."

The reactions from the kids were more toned down this year. There were the double-takes, the walk by's followed by laughing, and the "Why are you wearing thats?" One of my students said she was 'embarrassed for me!'

Actually, this was the first year no kid asked me "Aren't you embarrassed? Kids are laughing." Usually, I follow up with a "So? Why should that bother me?" and try to turn the ensuing discussion into a "be yourself" lesson.

Maybe word got out in the community that there's a crazy guy in a skirt every year. There was a greened-out kid with his back turned to me saying "Why aren't more people dressed up!" who turned around, saw me, and yelled "THANK YOU!"

The teacher reactions are fun, too.

The choir teacher told me that "[Kilt Day] is one of my favorite days of the year. We should have bet on whether you'd wear it today or on Monday since [Saint Patrick's Day] is on Sunday!" I normally hear at least a few "wedding kilt" or "my so-and-so is Scottish" stories, as well.

It's good to see Scottish/Irish pride!

One day, I'd like to actually hop across the pond and visit those countries myself. For now, I'm just a Texas-born, red-beard who wears a kilt for fun, education, and air-conditioning!

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Happy Saint Paddy's!

Carrie left me with the boy to go grab some more ingredients for a corned beef dinner. The boy's snoozing so babysitting is easy!

Today was "Kilt Day" at work. Every Saint Patrick's I pull out the tartan, step into the kilt hose and blow some middle school minds. It's funny how overt the kid's reactions are (even the ones who try to hide it). You would think more middle schoolers would've figured out that their voices carry when they yell. I also find it so ironic that most of them are amazed that a man would wear a "skirt."  My school is very diverse so they've all seen head-coverings, shawls, saris, you name it....but a kilt?  A large segment of the population has a much closer heritage to Ireland than any of the other culture-based clothing, but they all go ape when they see it. I start all of my classes with a quick kilt/St. Paddy's day history lesson to help get all of the questions out so I can move on to math and science. "No, it's not a skirt. It's a kilt....or you can call it a 'man skirt'" and "No, it's not a purse. It's a sporran....or you can call it a 'man purse'" and much of the like. I also do a quick lesson on the fact my kilt isn't of the Irish-variety. It's my clan tartan.  That brings another line of questioning and it kills more time, but it shows the kids are actively interested and learning.

Then there's the leprechauns. They always follow the Irish around to cause trouble on Saint Patrick's Day. One year, they stole all the chairs from my classroom so the kids had to stand. Another year, they changed one of the school water coolers to be full of kool-aid (we were in trailers and had no water fountains).  This year, they must've been nice because they knew I'm busy with a new baby. There was leprechaun poop (skittles) and they deleted a large test so I had to give the kids a smaller one.

The boy's fidgeting. Time to check on my son!

EDIT: We ended up inviting our neighbor, Ken, over for corned beef, potatoes and beer. It was a great meal! Thanks, Carrie!