Wednesday, July 26, 2017

A Brief History of the Scottish Tartan

From Vintage News:
The early tartans had only two or three colors extracted from local trees, berries, roots and plants growing in certain local areas. So, certain colors became symbols of and associated with clans. The clan tartans became widespread during the 19th century.  However these “clan tartans” are more of an invented tradition that started probably around the end 18th century. It is known that there weren’t such distinctions during the time of the Battle of Culloden in 1746.

It is supposed that the idea of groups of men being associated with certain tartan originates from the military units in the 18th century. So, before everyone could wear any tartan they preferred and it rather depended on the one’s location, but with time, its design became a symbol of identity with certain clans.

Some of the most popular clan tartans are, for example, Mackenzie’s one which is the uniform of Seaforth Highlanders, an infantry regiment of the British Army from Northern Scotland, established by the Earl of Seaforth in 1778. Today, the Pipes and Drums Band of the Royal Military College of Canada wears the Mackenzie tartan. (Read more.)
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