Quote Originally Posted by RayMc View Post
I wrote this short article about a year age for the Mists of Moigh, (newsletter of the Clan Mackintosh of North America)

Kirkin O’ the Tartans
by Ray McHatton
This past Spring I had the distinct privilege to represent Clan Mackintosh in the Massachusetts St. Andrew’s Society Annual Kirkin O’ the Tartans. This service is held each year near Tartan Day at the St. John’s Episcopal Church in Taunton, Mass.
Kirk is the Scottish word for Church. Kirkin of the Tartan is a traditional blessing of the tartan by the Clergy. After the disastrous Jacobite defeat at Culloden, tartan became unlawful to wear. The Clan system, based upon its recognizable tartan patterns was dismantled in the wake of Hanoverian troops led by the Duke of Cumberland combing the Highland countryside in search of remaining Jacobite supporters.
As a means of survival, the Kirkin went underground, so to speak. At service, many folk would carry a piece of the tartan beneath his cloak, and hold it between the fingers at a certain moment when the priest was blessing the flock.
This concealed act of defiance fell by the wayside with the onset of the Highland clearances. Many thousands of Clansfolk were forced into emigration to the New World as their aristocratic landlords began to favor use of the land for the raising of sheep.
At the outset of WWII, there was a concern that many Scottish Americans may choose not to sign up in order to fight on behalf of Great Britain. Rev. Peter Marshall, U.S. Senate chaplain revived the Kirkin O’ the Tartan, which was held in Presbyterian churches across the country. He did this in order to re-awaken pride in the Scottish homeland which may have become dim over the generations.
Today, most every Scottish Highland games and festival features such a ceremony as part of the weekend worship service, if they hold one. I would encourage all conveners to be sure the Mackintosh tartan is present at these services whenever possible.
Your sources for this account please, I have nothing against romantic stories, but when they try to be factual it's hard to sit back and watch.

There really is nothing traditional about the "Kirkin", and as others have said it was started in the States in the 1940's not in Scotland in the 1740's