Sporrans
Sporran is the Gaelic for purse and has become a traditional
part of Highland dress that is functional as well as being
decorative. The functionality has survived from the European
medieval pouch that was worn on a belt and period illustrations of
individuals in trews (tight trousers) demonstrate admirably that it
was in place of pockets.
The original sporrans were just circles of leather with holes
around the circumference through which was threaded a leather thong
which was tightened to draw the neck of the pouch together.
Just like today's pockets, its contents would be many and varied
but contemporary - coins, musket balls, fire-making paraphernalia
and even, amongst cattle drovers, oats and onions for whistling up
a black pudding on the trail (they bled the cattle and used the
blood).
Deerskin would be the obvious material for the early sporrans
and as they became less functional, they became more elaborate - in
Victorian times, the fashion was for goat-hair sporrans that all
but obliterated the front of the kilt.
The sporran is conventionally worn on the front of the kilt,
suspended by light chains or narrow leather belts that fasten in
the pit of the back - usually fed through the two belt loops of the
kilt. It's important to get its position right - it should hang two
or three inches below the belt buckle, too low - below the pubic
bone as one sometimes sees it, looks comical and too close to the
belt buckle is also to be avoided. Another method of hanging the
sporran is a leather strip called a 'wang' introduced many years
ago by veteran sporran maker Jim Kirkwood which has no metal parts
and an ingenious fastening system.
Conventionally, sporrans are made of leather or fur and are of
three types - simple workaday sporrans often of the pouch type with
no ornamentation apart from a little leather tooling perhaps; then
there are semidress sporrans usually with a metal cantle of pewter,
chrome or silver the old ones often have brass) and then there are
the more elaborate versions for evening functions. Hair sporrans
are most often seen in pipe bands but there's no reason why they
can't be worn at a 'dressy' evening function.
There are no hard and fast rules on what type of sporran you
should wear - let common-sense prevail. Wearing a Victorian goat or
horsehair creation to your kid's graduation or the church bazaar is
going to make you look a little eccentric and have your family
disown you, so it's best avoided. Equally, if you're invited to a
Royal Garden party at Holyrood Palace you wouldn't wear your tacky
workaday sporran but would (hopefully) sport a semidress version.
Now and again you may see a sporran that precedes its owner by
about 12 inches - usually an animal head or a grotesque furry
object . . . . try and avoid anything like that if you wish to be
taken seriously as a 'Scot'! . . . besides . . . it
makes it impossible to dance with the lady of your choice unless
you hold her at arms-length, which is rarely the purpose of the
exercise.
The cantle is the hinged metal jaw at the top of the sporran
that acts as a purse clasp and a wide range of cantles will usually
be available.
Being told what we can and can't use to make our sporrans tends
to raise the national hackles and broadswords: whilst it's only
right and proper to safeguard endangered species, modern political
correctness sometimes shrouds the situation and the latest victim
appears to be the traditional seal skin used for generations by
sporran makers. The industry waits whilst Europe dithers over the
small print as to whether the official annual Inuit (Eskimo) cull
of seals can be legally used for sporrans and what happens to those
thousands of sealskin sporrans already in circulation and in the
storerooms of kilt hire companies.
A 2007 BBC report on legislation introduced by the
Scottish Executive stated that sporran owners may need licences to
prove that the animals used in construction of their pouch
conformed to these regulations. "Having a licence... will ensure
they will not be prosecuted or have it taken from them under the
new regulations." Scottish Executive spokeswoman.
We can hear those swishing broadswords! In the meantime
however there are many other legitimate - and sometimesexotic -
furs and skins that are used - mink, muskrat, badger, coyote,skunk,
arctic fox, deerskin, cowhide etc.
Sporran-making is a time-honoured craft and added to the large
selection of different manufacturers, is an exciting number of lone
sporran-makers - within and outwith Scotland - whose artistic and
artisan skills produce a wonderful selection of unique products for
all occasions.
All images courtesy of Morrison Sporrans of Perth,
Scotland.