One example which has intrigued contemporary researchers came from the pattern books of the Clackmannanshire firm of Patons. An entry from the nineteenth century shows a scrap of largely blue and red tartan with the thread count falling in sevens, entitled 'The 7th Cavalry Tartan'.
No British military formation has such a name, although there was an American 7th Cavalry, which achieved fame under General Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, when it was massacred by the Sioux Indians. Apparently, General Custer had a liking for military bands and formed ad hoc brass and bagpipe bands. It is probable that the 7th Cavalry wrote to Scotland to commission a tartan for their pipers and drummers, since the regiment contained many Americans of Scottish descent.
Tartan's heritage is both glorious and controversial, but what of its current standing and its future? There is a living military tradition which has ensured that Highland dress and tartan are respected and often revered. There was uproar, for example, amongst the Scottish regiments when the War Office decreed in the Second World War that the kilt was not a suitable campaigning garment. Some soldiers organised protest bonfires and others insisted on taking the kilt with them into action in spite of the ruling.
Individuals have worn the kilt into battle in many modern wars, but the last kilted unit, operating as an organised body, was a platoon of the Cameron Highlanders, which fought an heroic rearguard action at Dunkirk in This occasion, however, ended a tradition of over 1, years.
With the amalgamation of so many regiments in modern times the supply of ex-army kilts, once the source for many older Boy Scouts, has dried up. There is continued affection for tartan among Scottish football and rugby supporters, who often flaunt it with immense enthusiasm. There are also growing numbers of pipe bands and Highland dancers, while the kilt is a favourite garment for weddings.
It has always been popular dress at musical festivals and ceilidhs, and one senses an increase in the wearing of the kilt for other social occasions. Unfortunately, there is a music-hall tradition that persists among some comedians of mocking the kilt. One of the biggest problems with Highland dress is the high cost of a kilt and accessories. However the kilt is a comfortable garment, warm in winter and cool in summer, and a good example should last for generations.
The golden rule for anyone tempted to wear the kilt is to go ahead and purchase one. Consult a reputable shop or the Scottish Tartans Society and ensure that you are properly measured, The choice of tartan is entirely a matter of individual taste, although it is generally good manners, despite the fact that many clan tartans are nineteenth-century in origin, to select something appropriate.
Statements that you may not wear your mother's tartan are untrue. There have often been cases in Scottish history when men and women have attached themselves to a clan or family by choice, and it was not always a question of birth or blood loyalty. The modern man in Highland dress may also wear a Balmoral hat, which is rather like a beret and is generally blue - a link with the famous 'blue bonnets' that were part of the campaigning dress of many Scots, and particularly of Highlanders.
Sometimes Balmorals have a diced pattern round the rim. This is a relic of an old accounting system that was taken into the heraldry of the Stewarts or High Stewards of Scotland and became known as 'the checky', from which the word 'exchequer' derives.
Scottish policemen also wear this pattern, a symbol of guardianship and protection. The boat-shaped Glengarry hats are of nineteenth-century military origin. Shirts, jackets and ties are entirely a matter of taste, although tweed jackets largely green or brown for daytime wear and black for evening wear, with rather more ornate shirts and accessories, are generally the custom.
In the past, belts were normally made of leather with brass buckles, but now there is a whole variety of designs and materials. Sporrans the name is the Gaelic for 'purse' were once worn on the hip and had draw strings instead of studs. Now strikingly modern sporrans are produced following old designs, and synthetic materials have replaced seal, goat or deer skin. The kilt pin dates from the nineteenth century, and largely resulted from the desire of Queen Victoria and her senior military staff to have modesty among her soldiers.
Underwear beneath the kilt - so often a cause for humour - is a relatively modern development, and in the past men wore nothing. This is still true of several Scottish regiments, apart from some sentries and dancers, on whom the kilt might fly up. Most other people wear shorts or pants, according to personal taste. Of the other Highland dress accessories, knitted socks are also a fairly recent innovation. In the past, hose were made from the same material as the kilt. The small flashes at each side of the stockings are symbolic of the kind of ribbon-garter that was used in the past and tied with a special knot.
Shoes, like socks, are a matter of personal preference. The convention for evening wear, however, is black. The Gaelic for shoe is brog, from which comes the English word 'brogue'. The holes that are often punched in the leather symbolise the holes made in deer-hide footwear to let water out. The Gaelic words for 'my footwear' are mo chasan, and it has been suggested that Scottish migrants to North America who used this word might have given rise to the Indian word, 'moccasin'.
The small knife tucked into the stocking is called a sgian dubh, or black knife, and was originally an implement for eating or skinning, although nowadays it is mainly symbolic. The adjective 'black' derives from the use of coarse metal, rather than the prized shining metal used for weapons. Some people wear ornamental dirks attached to their belts for evening wear. It is undoubtedly the case that a Highlander from many centuries ago, should he see the dress of his nineteenth- and twentieth-century descendants, would recognise his own garb.
With female dress this is perhaps less likely. Early Highland women wore a longer version of the man's shirt and then had a version of the man's belted plaid, known as the arisaid earrasaid in Gaelic, and pronounced 'varoosatch'.
It was made of tartan and white was generally the predominant colour. The garment reached down to the ground and was fixed at the waist with a belt and fastened with a pin at the breast. There was sufficient loose cloth to pull over the head like a hood in bad weather, and underneath a full petticoat was worn. Occasionally an additional shawl was used. Modern conventions on the use of tartan sashes and plaid-type sashes, or brooches, are largely a matter of taste.
There are now many new tartans, some of which are extremely attractive. For example, there are tartans for some American states and Canadian provinces, for overseas military units and bands, for special anniversaries, for civilian organisations such as the City of Glasgow, even for fire brigades and airlines. The proposed designs for these go before the Scottish Tartans Society, which monitors and registers them, and awards certificates. In addition, the society continues its research into ancient aspects of Highland dress and generally brings much-needed discipline into the whole subject of tartanology.
Finally, there are a few persistent misconceptions which it would be valuable to clarify. For instance, the amount of white worn in so-called dress tartans or Highland dancing tartans is entirely modern and lacks an ancient pedigree, except in its connection with the arisaid. Similarly, the names of some supposedly 'ancient' tartans refer to dyes copying old hues and not to the sett or pattern. Hunting tartans are of nineteenth-century origin, although it is probable that in the more distant past men wore a dark design when hunting.
Lastly, it is considered poor taste to wear a chief's tartan unless the use has been sanctioned, the same being true of tartans associated with the Royal Family.
Tartan enthusiasts owe a great debt to a number of modern scholars, particularly Scots like J. Telfer Dunbar, James D. Scarlett, the late Donald Stewart who pioneered the system of filing tartan samples and pedigrees , the late Captain Stuart Davidson for his pioneering work, Dr Gordon Teall of Teallach, chairman and executive president of the Scottish Tartans Society, for his research on district tartans; also to American Fellows of the Society - J.
Wang Binghua's wife, Wang Luli, also published a piece of plaid twill: a large portion of some sort of vest. Her photograph shows broad stripes of purply-brown thread with the plaid formed by pinstripes in no fewer than five other colors: light and dark blue, red, white, and black. To make the vest, the tailor joined pieces of this stuff together with pale blue yarn, edged the vest with two narrow plaited cords, and added a pair of buttons covered with the same pale blue yarn.
That sample has been rewoven in modern times and offers a remarkably sophisticated design that is the equal of many asymmetric tartans of the 20th century. Hami plaids might have as many as six colors, therein resembling the modern Scottish rather than the ancient Hallstatt way of doing things and the regular combination of plaids and twills in the same cloth and the similar play of wides and narrows in the plaids move us into a bolder zone where it's harder to imagine the sum total as accidental.
In conclusion, the vast majority of historians have assumed that the idea of plaids tartans was relatively new to Scotland in the seventeenth century. Archaeology tells a different story. Many historians have assumed that the idea of plaids tartans was relatively new to Scotland in the seventeenth century. The Celts have been weaving plaid twills tartans for three thousand years at least. For a European perspective on the Celts and their weaving of tartan - see the article C elts in this History section.
So- yes, they are largely products of the 19th century. However, that does not make them fraudulent, as this piece of history is easy to trace, and the whole thing has now passed into Scottish tradition.
My own family tartan, which I like to wear, is a fairly modern invention; but I do not feel as though I am perpetuating a fraud when I wear it. The tartan is an ancient show of allegiance. However, after the Battle of Culloden in , the Crown outlawed the wearing of Highland dress, in part to crush the clan system.
By the 19th-century Scottish revival many of the old patterns had been forgotten and had to be re-invented, with the Victorian clan chiefs adopting new tartans for their clan. Modern tartans are not fraudulent, in that they do reflect the clan.
They are just not necessarily centuries old. John Cockling, Halesowen, England Invention - no. Exaggeration - possibly. They are a nod back to a largely imagined bygone age. The tartan patterns were handed down from generation to generation, but gained a wider significance amidst the nostalgic idiom of the nineteenth century. And, of course, the weaving industry would have been very keen to jump on the bandwaggon!
These were long and flowing but capable of being neatly gathered up at pleasure into folds. Over a gown reaching to the ancles, and generally embroidered, they wore large mantles of the kind already described, and woven of different colours.
Their ancestors wore plaids of many colours, and numbers still retain this custom. Their predecessors used short mantles or plaids of divers colours sundry waies divided; and amongst some, the same costume is observed to this day; but for the most part now they are browne, more near to the colour of the hadder heather ; to the effect when they lie amongst the hadder the bright colour of their plaids shall not betray them.
Scottish Mercenaries of This serves them for a veil and covers both head and body. Tartans and Highland Dress. Telfer Dunbar. Highland Soldiers of E: brian tartanambassador.
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