My maiden name is Scott, and I spent lots of vacations in the highlands of Scotland as a child and young woman visiting family. I was lucky enough to return to the north of Scotland earlier this summer when my husband and I enjoyed the eight-hour train journey from London, watching the countryside change from green, English pastures, to the gentle rolling hills of the Scottish borders, to the craggy, beautiful but forlorn mountains of the highlands.
My Scottish roots were proven a few years ago when my husband and I decided to check out our DNA profiles, both from a health and an ancestral information perspective. Happily, no worrying health factors showed up, and we did discover a lot about our ancestral heritages. As expected, I am a mix of northern European blood: primarily English/ Welsh, with a lot of Scottish/Irish, some French/German and a little Scandinavian. My husband, whose family lived for generations in and around the Appalachian Mountains, proved to be a true product of the American melting pot, with ancestors from Europe, Eurasia and Africa.
Anyway, back to Scotland and my Scottish roots. Scott is the name of one of the larger Scottish clans and comes from the Latin word “Scotti” which was originally how the Romans referred to the Celtic race in the British Isles. In fact, the origins of the Scottish clans can be traced back to the ancient Celtic tribes that inhabited Scotland before the Roman conquest. The early Celtic tribes lived in a communal and tribal society, organized around kinship ties and family bonds. They inhabited different regions of Scotland, each with its distinct customs, languages, and traditions. These tribes were united by a shared Celtic culture, characterized by a reverence for nature, a strong warrior ethos, and a deep connection to their ancestral roots. Over time, as these tribes interacted and intermarried, larger kinship groups known as clans began to emerge. Clans were bigger than tribes but smaller than nations. They were formed around a common ancestor or a founding figure who was revered as the progenitor of the clan. The clans provided a sense of identity, protection, and social organization to its members.
Each clan has its own tartan, which is a wool plaid fabric, each with its own unique pattern and combination of colors. These individual fabrics represent much more than just a functional piece of wool clothing. They are an integral component of the identity and personality of the clan. Tartan in Scotland is believed to be nearly 2,000 years old, and it is known that this durable fabric was everyday wear for people in the highlands. Interestingly the word “plaid” referred to a large piece of tartan worn over the shoulder which was very useful in the inhospitable Scottish weather. Because local weavers usually only produced one pattern and sold their cloth to local people, tartans became associated with people living in that area – the clans.
Scottish tartan is traditionally made from sheep wool with a pattern of intersecting vertical and horizontal stripes of different colors and widths. There are thousands of unique patterns recognized by the official “Scottish Register of Tartans”. Prior to the mid-19th century, wool was dyed using vegetable-based dyes so the colors tended to be fainter and looked more ‘washed out’ than today’s synthetic dyes which allow wool to be dyed with stronger and brighter colors. It is possible today to buy ‘ancient‘ tartans which attempt to reproduce the effect of those weaker vegetable dyes.
The last major attempt by Scotland to retake the British throne by war was in 1745 by Charles Stuart, more commonly known in history as “Bonnie Prince Charlie”. This was the Jacobite Rebellion, which saw many Scottish Highlanders drawn into battle. Tartans became associated with rebellion, so the victorious English restricted the wearing of tartans with the ‘Dress Act’ as part of their brutal crackdown on the defeated Scots. By the time this law was repealed in 1782, many Scottish clans had even more enthusiastically embraced their own tartan patterns and magnified tartan’s importance in culture, tradition, history and identity. By the nineteenth century, the British monarchy began to embrace a number of Scottish traditions, leading to Queen Victoria acquiring Balmoral Castle in the highlands as a royal residence, as well as adopting the Balmoral tartan. The late Queen Elizabeth II adored her summers in Scotland and proudly wore this tartan many times, and the British royal family continue to wear it on formal occassions.
There is a lot more information at www.scotclans.com and www.britannica. com I will leave you with a quote from nineteenth century Scottish poet, humorist, lawyer, and stanch defender of Scottish rights, William Edmondstoune-Aytoun: “Nowhere beats the heart so kindly as beneath the tartan plaid!”
God bless America and all those of Scottish descent!
Lesley grew up in London, England and made Georgia her home in 2009. She can be contacted at lesley@francis.com or via her full-service marketing agency at www. lesleyfrancispr.com