Some Thoughts on Druidic Garb

(Note: The following comments on apparel for Neo-Druid ritual celebrants are excerpted from a correspondence with Rev. Joel Schonbrunn, Druid-Provisional of the Fellowship.)

My overarching view on ceremonial garments is that (in essence) changing clothes for ritual is a good thing. Some people talk in terms of "shifting consciousness" for ritual (I've been known to use that phrase myself at times), but that's a little esoteric: Really what it comes down to is the notion that, if we're working to delineate ritual time and space as at the very least "special," then other gestures that reinforce that effort--reminders, subtle or otherwise, if you will--are helpful.

To be a bit more specific: I tend to at least put on a couple items of jewelry which I try to only wear for ritual and which have personal significance. In addition, most of the time I try to wear a shirt or tunic that is linked to the occasion in some way (like wearing [a] Green Man t-shirt at [a] "herbal god" themed Solstice rite).

To a less consistent degree, I also try to take note of general thinking about the office of "Druid" in a contemporary setting and what approaches have been taken by others vis-a-vis ritual garb. By that I mean: How much do I feel it is fruitful to either replicate or at least suggest attire from the Celtic past (or that is seen as emblematic of the customs of Druids past)? I do like to wear a kilt when practical (sometimes it isn't so practical when there's a lot of setup to be done and no place to change) and I have a simple leine purchased at a [Renaissance Faire] that I hand-trimmed with a bit of blue embroidered ribbon around the collar. The garment is relatively appropriate from a Celtic-historical sense. It is an off-white in color, which suggests some of the more Mesopagan Druid customs of Druids wearing white (something which cannot be seen as proven as having been customary for Paleopagan Druids taken as a whole). The blue is a color linked to bardic practice (by some of these same customary associations), which was an acknowledgement of the bardic roots of my Druidic path. At other times I wear a simple loose-weave natural fiber tunic in an off-white. This is a contemporary garment that I've always felt balances simplicity and dignity, while still being practical and echoing the "Druids wearing white" convention without slavishly imitating the Mesopagan practices.