Significance of white in a tartan

[Father Bill]

When I first joined my local St. Andrews society as a teen, there was a gentleman who everyone thought of as the kilt expert. Several people told me to see him about what to wear. Some of his wisdom was about the colors in one's tartan. I can only remember two, both of which turned out to be myths. They were a gold stripe represented loyalty to the (English) crown and a white stripe represented Christianity as opposed to pagan religious affiliation of an entire clan.

Oh, for an "eye-roll" emoji!

[OC Richard]

I can only remember two, both of which turned out to be myths.

They were a gold stripe represented loyalty to the (English) crown and a white stripe represented Christianity as opposed to pagan religious affiliation of an entire clan.

Peter more for your list!!

It would be instructive for all tartan aficionados for somebody to go colour-by-colour with this guy and discover the hidden meaning of each.

And take notes so it can be preserved for posterity.

[Tomo]

[QUOTE=OC Richard;1407930It would be instructive for all tartan aficionados for somebody to go colour-by-colour...[/QUOTE]

I think we are going to need need some fairly complex Venn diagrams...

This little gem is from the BBC - Today, the colours identify religion as red and green tartans represent Catholics and the blue represents Protestants. The divide is important in Scotland as one can identify people's religion by what colour tartan is worn.

[Jock Scot]

I think we are going to need need some fairly complex Venn diagrams...

This little gem is from the BBC - Today, the colours identify religion as red and green tartans represent Catholics and the blue represents Protestants. The divide is important in Scotland as one can identify people's religion by what colour tartan is worn.

Words just fail me!

[COScotsman]

I think we are going to need need some fairly complex Venn diagrams...

This little gem is from the BBC - Today, the colours identify religion as red and green tartans represent Catholics and the blue represents Protestants. The divide is important in Scotland as one can identify people's religion by what colour tartan is worn.

Now I must clean coffee off my computer monitor. Such silliness.

[Troglodyte]

After visiting Scotland, I found the tartan pattern very interesting and discovered that there is a lot of history, meaning and importance to it. There are many different tartan designs representing different clans and names; there is a pattern for most Scottish names as well as my own. Red, green, blue and yellow tartans are the most common. History has it; the meaning of the colours has changed since the 19th century. It's said that red tartan was worn in battle so blood would not show, green resembled the forest, blue symbolising lakes and rivers and yellow resembling crops. Today, the colours identify religion as red and green tartans represent Catholics and the blue represents Protestants. The divide is important in Scotland as one can identify people's religion by what colour tartan is worn. Ultimately the tartan kilt is a universal symbol of "scottishness" and represents that culture and all its history.

This is what the BBC has on their website - contributed by Jennifer Mcpartlin.

No mention of who, or what she is, or her authority to pronounce on tartan in this way but, if the information on the BBC website is anything to go by, it now forms part of the BBC Schools Lesson Plan, BBC Archive Chronicle, BBC History, and BBC Culture 24 networks.

As a professional career of more than 45 years in journalism. I can say with a good deal of personal experience that the editorial standard at the BBC has always been low, subjective at an individual level and considered something of a joke in the industry. But this beggars belief.

How many youngsters will have been given this kind of nonsense as gospel fact in their history lessons, and thought it unquestionably true because it comes from the BBC? And it's on the internet, so how could it be otherwise..?

I can well imagine the day will soon come (if it has not already arrived) when the lads at the Scottish Tartans Authority will be told they are wrong, and know nothing because the BBC says...

But wait!

I know what it is. I've died, haven't I..? And I'm in purgatory, and having to suffer this kind of torment is how my sins are being expiated.

Boy, I must have been a bad 'un...

[OC Richard]

I think we are going to need need some fairly complex Venn diagrams...

This little gem is from the BBC - Today, the colours identify religion as red and green tartans represent Catholics and the blue represents Protestants. The divide is important in Scotland as one can identify people's religion by what colour tartan is worn.

Wow. I'm writing all this nonsense down, we're getting a fairly sizeable list already. Keep them coming!!

Now, colours do have liturgical meaning, but Catholics and Protestants use the same colours to signify the same thing: the seasons of the church calendar.



Isle of Skye tartan, being largely green and purple, fits nicely.

[Father Bill]

Roman Catholics and some protestants use them that way. Not all. Some totally ignore their traditional significations.

[OC Richard]

Roman Catholics and some protestants use them that way. Not all. Some totally ignore their traditional significations.

To be clear, I didn't say all Protestants. My point was that the colours have the same significance for both; there are "Catholic colours" and "Protestant colours".

Many of the "mainline" denominations use liturgical colours in some form or other, though it can vary church-by-church within the same denomination.

In our Catholic parish we show up one Sunday and the trappings have been changed, there's nothing more to it.

However a local Presbyterian church has a special service to mark the beginning of Advent, during which a guy ceremoniously removes the Pastor's green stole and puts on a purple one, and the trappings are changed, while music plays.

Indeed not all Catholic churches have that stuff- there's one here that just meets in a portable, there are no trappings, vestments, pews, organ, choir, or altar (communion is done with a folding table). You never know!

[Troglodyte]

Wow. I'm writing all this nonsense down, we're getting a fairly sizeable list already. Keep them coming!!

Now, colours do have liturgical meaning, but Catholics and Protestants use the same colours to signify the same thing: the seasons of the church calendar.



Isle of Skye tartan, being largely green and purple, fits nicely.

Just think of the fun you could have devising a new 'clergy' tartan.

None of the old two-tone black-and-white stuff of the old days, but more 'Joseph and His Technicolour Dreamcoat'.

High Days and Holy Days would be a riot of colour!