Significance of white in a tartan

[Troglodyte]

I'm not sure I even understand how that would work. That only folks with white stripes in their tartans were allowed to fight at Culloden? That they added a white stripe after the battle? (And wouldn't that make it a different tartan?)

Exactly..!

Which is why the idea is so bizarre.

Perhaps we should put it about that red in tartan is to represent the blood spilt by Jacobites in the '45, and black stripes are the same as black armbands, so a public display of loss and mourning.

We could go on for ever, giving new meaning to every colour and shade - green for the glens emptied during the Clearances; yellow for the setting sun the emigrant ships sailed towards; blue for the clear Highland skies...

Hey, I'm on a roll now, so look out for my next best-seller - The True Meaning of Tartan Colours - What You've Never Been Told available in all languages and at every tartan-tat shop on the Royal Mile.

Remember, you saw it here first...