Well, I didn't. Shocking, I know!
Unsurprisingly, it came into being in the fair province of Nova Scotia, Canada. This is where my family has had a summer home for over thirty years, and, yes, I can attest that the Nova Scotians do love their tartans, even on their Teddy Bears:
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| Angus the Bear wearing the Nova Scotia tartan. |
Apparently, the concept of "Tartan Day" began at a meeting of the Federation of Scottish Clans in Nova Scotia on March 9, 1986 where they decided to celebrate their Scottish heritage in an annual wearing of tartans on April 6th, the date on which the Declaration of Arbroath was signed in 1320.
Of course, being a McKinlay, my family has its own tartan. It was a fine day that my Grand Uncle Donald presented my brother with the family tartan in the form of a tie. Sort a right of passage for a Scottish lad, at least in our family. Girls get skirts although, given that we are Scottish, I'm thinking my brother should have gotten the skirt (kilt) and I could have made use of the tie. But I digress.
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| MacKinlay/McKinlay Tartan |
Here's a little history on Tartans, gleaned (didn't we learn the origin of that word this week in Monday's post?) from this fabulous website: Historic UK.
"Early tartans were simple checks of perhaps only two or three colours. The colours were extracted mainly from dye-producing plants, roots, berries and trees local to a specific geographic area. These simple checks or tartans were worn by the people of the district where they were made, and as such became the area or clan tartan."
It's always the Highlanders...
"For several centuries, tartan remained part of the everyday garb of the Highlander. Whilst tartan was worn in other parts of Scotland, it was in the Highlands that its development continued and so it became synonymous with the symbol of clan kinship."
And, yes, this whole post was just an excuse to look at pictures of men in kilts. If anyone hasn't seen Scottish men in kilts doing yoga, well, here's a link for you but you may want to have a fan and a bucket of ice at the ready because, yes, it does answer the question of what they wear under the kilt (you're welcome): Kilted Yoga.
All right, who out there has a tartan of their own?
