Author: Lena

The popular image of the Welsh “national” costume is a woman dressed in a red cape and a high black hat. “The Woman” appeared in 19th century because at that moment some national values were under the smith of disappearance. In the 19th century the costume was a striped flannel petticoat, a jacket, an apron, a shawl and a cap. The style of jackets was differed - there were some jackets with a bodice and a long skirt; also were some jackets with short skirts for a riding. Now this costume is one of Welsh symbols.

Originally the kilt appeared in the Highlands many centuries ago but only in 1594 its description has given for the first time.
In the Highlands the kilt was an essential part of a dress because of severe weather conditions. So, kilt warmed a body and was used as a plaid at nights, but during the fights the kilt was taken of. The famous fight clans in 1554 got its name Blar-na-Leine, “The fight of shirts”.
The kilt is made of wool. The famous square cloth pattern is called tartan.
There are two kinds of the kilt: the Big or the Great kilt and the Small or the Walking kilt. The Great kilt appeared first and it is longer and wormer than the Walking kilt.
Now the kilt is a part of the national Scottish costume.

The “traditional costume” is the costume of a dancer.
It was never remade. The costume is a long flax shirt, a warm woolen raincoat with a hood.
It always makes of flax and wool.
The Irish climate is windy and wet but it is very warm, so the people don’t know the trousers. The custom to carry trousers brought Vikings.
The female costume is a short colorful dress and a beautiful cloak.
A the present the “national costume” is using only in dancing shows.

Tess Stepankina, 7”B”
The information was taken from “The big encyclopedia: countries and people” , http://elf.org.ru/index.php?i=kilt, http://images.yandex.ru/ , http://www.cymraeg.ru/gwisg.html, http://old.e-motion.com.ua/issue52/style/image/Irlandskij_natsionalnyj_kostjum.html