Show your tartan today!

[Rob Wright]

Since I had to work and my uniform specifically requires black trousers, shirt and tie, I wore my Douglas Modern tie.

Rob

[meinfs]

That's the Bear Tartan in my avatar pic...

[lethearen]

And now, just the best looking tartan ever......

Hrm, best looking tartan... My computer monitor must be a little off; that white stripe looks awfully yellow to me ;)

[Santa Wally]

Wallace (House of Edgar muted colors). Pro libertate, y'all.

That's my "Wallace" (my family) tartan also. That's what I'm wearing in my avatar photo, it's not a close up so it's not easy to see. It's a familiar plaid, just look at the plaid of the original "Scotch Tape" brand.

[dfmacliam]

my tartan? Why its the US Marine Corps Leatherneck.

[David_F.]

Fowler - STA: 7747, SRoT: 5728 ith:

[Mael Coluim]

Found this article today at the Panalba website.

Tartan During Proscription

Philip Smith 06/19/2009 09:33 AM


1749 Portrait of John Campbell After the defeat of the Jacobite army at Culloden in April, 1746, the British government moved quickly to break the clan system.

The “Disarming Act” read in part, “… after the first day of August, 1747, no man or boy within Scotland, other than such shall be employed as officers and soldiers … shall wear .. the clothes commonly called Highland clothes, the plaid, philabeg, or little kilt, … and that no tartan or partly coloured plaid shall be used … any person so offending … shall suffer imprisonment … for six months without bail and being convicted of a second offense shall be transported … beyond the seas for the space of seven years.”

This law was ruthlessly enforced on both Jacobite and Hanovarian clans in the Highlands for the first few years. Duncan Ban MacIntyre, the premiere Gaelic poet of his time, had fought with the Royalists at Culloden. His bitter poem Oran do’n bhriogais (“Song of the Pants”) ends with, “I think it is an ill reward, For the men who went campaigning, To deprive them of their raiment, Though by their help Duke William won.”

Some bizarre incidents are recorded. A black “servant” of MacDonald of Keppoch was arrested in Rannoch and jailed for wearing the clothes his owner gave him. A young man sewed up his kilt between the legs, making culottes, and painted mud over the tartan to hide it. He was arrested and found guilty but the intervention of “friends in high places” got him released. This signaled the beginning of the end of enforcement.

The military usually get credit for keeping tartan alive as thousands of men joined the army. Returning veterans continued to wear the kilt. However, portraits show civilians in full Highland dress as early as 1748, beginning with the Earl of Wymess and Campbell of Ardmaddie, President of the Bank of Scotland (1749). Other portraits dating from 1760 to 1775 are those of the young Sir James MacDonald and his brother, Sir James as an adult, Campbell of Lochlaine, and the Duke of Atholl. Boswell wrote that he and Samuel Johnson were met by MacDonald of Kingsburgh in full Highland dress in 1773.

Tartan was not confined to those rich enough to have a portrait painted. A poor Highland chief was sketched on an Edinburgh street in full Highland dress in 1761. Paintings of common folk at weddings and musicians show them in tartan in the 1760’s. Garments from the era are preserved including a dressing gown, a coat and waistcoat worn by Bruce of Kinnard, a jacket in the “Atholl District” tartan, and a kilt in the “Robertson.” Weavers also gave us many samples of tartan including the “Grant of Achnarrow” and the one today called the “Clan Chattan.” There is some evidence that the great weaving firm of Wilson’s of Bannockburn began their careers supplying chapmen – back pack peddlers – in the 1760’s.

Outside Scotland, tartan was allowed to be worn and it was through the efforts of the Highland Society of London that the Act was repealed in 1782.

Philip D. Smith, Jr. PhD, GTS, FSA Scot

Professor Smith is the President of the American branch of The Scottish Tartans Authority, based in Crieff, Perthshire. As such, he serves on the Board of Governors. He is a member of the Guild of Tartan Scholars (one of seven Internationally) and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. He teaches Gaelic and lectures internationally on tartan.

[Jack Daw]

Found this article today at the Panalba website.

Tartan During Proscription

This law was ruthlessly enforced on both Jacobite and Hanovarian clans in the Highlands for the first few years. Duncan Ban MacIntyre, the premiere Gaelic poet of his time, had fought with the Royalists at Culloden. His bitter poem Oran do’n bhriogais (“Song of the Pants”) ends with, “I think it is an ill reward, For the men who went campaigning, To deprive them of their raiment, Though by their help Duke William won.”

Correction: Duncan Ban MacIntyre did not fight at Culloden. He fought against the Jacobites at Falkirk...and, lost his borrowed, rusty sword in the process. His musket he named, "NicCosheum", which is what I named my pipes. Thanks for recalling the name of the great Highland poet.

[kypnkilt]

Just look at my avatar...Crawford modern.

[Jaggy thistle]

Mine is already there Black Douglas