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Tartan Stories #1

Story 1 -- The American Tartan      Story 2 -- The Jewish Tartan      Story 3 -- Charles Stuart's Tartan      Story 4 -- Scots with Gall?      Story 5 - The Philabeg

Story 1 -- The American Tartan

The American Tartan was designed by John C. Cumming in 1975.  It has an American copywright number GP121829 and the date of publication was 13 August 1975.  It was presented in 1976 to the First Lady of the United States, Mrs. Betty Ford.  Mr. J. C. Thompson F.S.T.S., a member of the Saint Andrew's Society of Washington, D.C., initiated the design of the American (St. Andrews) tartan.  The design was modified by J. D. Scarlett F.S.T.S. and it too is dated 1975.  It was conceived as a tartan for American St. Andrews and Caledonian Societies.  The St. Andrews Society of Washington, DC voted to commission a tartan in 1975.

There are two distinct and different tartans both based upon the colours of "Old Glory". The former is the official American tartan.

Source
District Tartans
Gordon Teall of Teallach and Dr. Philip D. Smith., Jr.

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Story 2 -- The Jewish Tartan

This article comes to The Capital Scot from Koshereverything@aol.com

Scots rabbi creates world's first Jewish tartan.  It's finally arrived!  For over 300 years Scots Jews have waited for their own tartan and now - here it is!  The official Jewish Tartan is an authentic Scottish made tartan created by Heritage Experts and Rabbis.  It is the only Scottish Jewish Tartan approved and registered by the Scottish Tartans Authority, and it is available direct from jewishtartan.com   or internationally renowned weavers Lochcarron of Scotland.  Initiated by Rabbi Mendel Jacobs, the only Scottish born Rabbi living in Scotland, it's 100 per cent Kosher being a non wool-linen mix, and as it incorporates many aspects of Scottish-Jewish cultural and religious history, it is the perfect representation of our heritage.

Rabbi Mendel said:  For over 300 years Scots Jews have waited for their own tartan and now here it is.  Scotland has a rich tapestry of culture and history and for many years has welcomed other people into its midst.  The Jewish people have been an integral part of Scottish Culture for more than 300 years, with the first Jew recorded in Edinburgh in 1691.  In Scotland, the Jews were never persecuted and there were no pogroms, no Holocaust, no national or state sponsored antisemitic laws.  When England was burning and exiling its Jews in the Middle Ages, Scotland provided a safe haven from English and European anti-Semitism.

As well as being a non-woolen 100 per cent Kosher mix, the colours, weave and number of threads in the Jewish Tartan have all been picked for their relevance to Judaism.  Rabbi Mendel said:  The blue and white represents the colours of the Israeli and Scottish flag with the central gold line representing the gold from the Biblical Tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant and the many ceremonial vessels.  The silver is from the decorations that adorn the Scroll of the Law, and the red represents the traditional red Kiddush wine.  There are seven lines in the central motif and three in the flag representations - both numbers of great significance.  Director of the Scottish Tartans Authority, Brian Wilton, said:  We have been working on this with Rabbi Mendel, since the start of the year and he believes it will be popular, not only in Scotland, but around the world.  Generations of Scots are of the Jewish faith so there is no reason why it shoudn't be.  Although some other bodies have now expressed an interest in creating a similar tartan, the Scottish Tartans authority say there can be only one official Jewish Tartan.  Brian added:  We only have one Jewish Tartan on the register and it's certainly a case of first come first served.  We couldn't register two tartans with exactly the same name.  Internationally renowned weavers Lochcarron of Scotland through the recommendation of The Scottish Tartans Authority have vested an interest in manufacturing the Jewish Tartan.

(Rabbi Mendel runs Scotland's fastest growing synagogue and is one of the emisaries of the Chabad Lubavitch movement - the largest Jewish outreach organisation in the world.  The Jewish Tartan comes in time for Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations.)

Story 3 -- Charles Stuart's Tartan

From the English newspaper, the Times, of Saturday June 17th, 1995...

Eight years of painstaking research by the curators at the National Museum of Scotland have resulted in the tracing and reconstruction of the tartan worn by Bonnie Prince Charlie after his flight from Culloden.

The blue-green tartan, with red, black and yellow stripes is different from any of those known today, which were introduced in the 19th Century.

Hugh Cheape, the museum's curator, was asked in 1987 to authenticate a piece of tartan from the archives of Stonyhurst College in Lancashire (northwest England).

There was a piece of paper with the cloth stating that it was part of a kilt left by Bonnie Prince Charlie on the Island of Glass on April 30th. 1746. This was identified as the Hebridean island of Scalpay, known as Eilean Glas in Gaelic, and it was discovered that the Prince had sheltered there with a taxman called Campbell.

There was also documentary evidence that the Prince had been given a "sute of cloaths" at the home of the MacDonalds of Borrowdale by Catriona MacDonald (a MacGregor) who welcomed him there...several days after he left, government troops destroyed the house.

Campbell, the taxman, was reported to the English by the minister on Scalpay, but when they arrived they were unable to land.

The scrap of tartan is believed to be from the kilt given to the Prince by Catriona MacDonald and left at the house of Campbell. It was analyzed by Dr. Anita Quye of the museum's conservation unit who identified the dyes in the tartan using liquid chromatography and spectroscopy - all the dyes are natural ones used in the 18th Century.

As he was finishing his research, Mr. Cheape was sent a second scrap of the same tartan from a family in Southampton (southern England). It came from the same cloth as the original piece and, with it, was an identical note.

The, reconstructed, Prince's tartan, with the original fragments and other relics, has been on display in Edinburgh. The original article includes a photograph of the scrap of cloth from Stonyhurst College, a map showing Scalpay between Skye and the mainland, a photograph of the reconstructed tartan and one of a portrait of the Prince.

Source: Roger McDowall
Newsgroups: alt.scottish.clans
Subject: Charles Stuart's Tartan
Date: 19 Jun 95

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Story 4 -- Scots with "Gall"?

The people known by the Romans as "Gauls", and by the Greeks as "Galatians" or "Kelts", destroyed the ancient world's concept of the term "human".

"Their appearance" writes the Greek historian Diodorus ... "was terrifying ... They are tall with flexing muscles under white skin. Their hair is blond, but not only naturally so. They bleach it with gypsum and water, and comb it from the forehead back and upward. In this manner they look like forest demons, because their special rinse makes the hair thick and heavy like a horse's mane. Some shave, while others, especially those of superior rank, leave a mustache which covers the entire mouth and serves as a sieve in which food particles remain hanging while eating and drinking ... They are clothed - that is bewildering - in loud colored and embroidered shirts. They also wear trousers which they call 'bracae' ["breeches"?] and robes which are fastened at the shoulder with a brooch. The robes are heavy in winter and light in summer. These cloaks are striped or checked with individual fields set close together exhibiting various colors."

[The Greek historian, Diodorus, lived in the last century before Christ.]

Source:
Herm, Gerhard
Die Kelten pp 12-13, Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag
Reinbeck bei Hamburg
1977
[Trans. Jim MacGregor].

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Story 5 - The Philabeg

The "philabeg" is actually the "little kilt", consisting of just the bottom portion of the "great" kilt (phila mor?). There was some speculation as early as the eighteenth century that the philabeg was in fact "invented" by an Englishman who designed the lighter, less encumbering garment for workers at an iron works in the Highlands---the jury is still out on that one (probably always will be).

The kilt was not the universal garment of people living north of the "Highland Line" until the 1740s.At least three 16th-17th century bodies have been recovered from bogs in the Hebrides with breeches (mock horror!). There were also areas (particularly in Sutherland, Caithness, Ross, the Black Isle) that were not uniformly Gaelic-speaking or "highland" in the Romantic sense of the word.

A modern kilt is actually a man's apparel. Material is pleated in the middle section such that the tartan pattern is unaffected (each fold picks up where the last fold left off to produce this effect which can make a 120cm wide kilt actually require 8m of material) and fixed so that it can't come loose. Either side (which are each equal in length to the middle; a kilt is divided into thirds) is flat/unpleated. In general the middle section of the kilt (with the pleats) is set at your back. The left section is folded over your front and secured on the right side through a hole via a buckle, and then the right side is folded over the front again (so you have two layers on the front) and secured with another buckle. The entire kilt hangs below your waist and should only go down to just above the kneecap.

What is the difference between tradional tartan dress and that re-invented by the Victorians? The connection is a few generations distant. The traditional kilt would have to be a breacan faile, pronounced "breck'n feller." A large piece of tartan cloth (Perhaps it was 8m x 2m?) you layed it down flat, pleated it yourself (loose pleats, not fixed), layed yourself down on it and strapped it up with a belt. There was a large pleated part that hung below your waist while the rest of it could be draped over your shoulders almost as a cloak. (The contributor is not sure about length of hang on a philabeg.)

In the book So You're Going To Wear The Kilt, by J. Charles Thompson, Publisher: Heraldic Art, Box 7192, Arlington, VA 22207. Alternatively, the author describes the material needed and how to fold it. The following are excerpts from the book:

"You want to make a breacan faile, pronounced breck'n feller. It is the so called long kilt, the traditional garment worn for centuries before the short one became fashionable. The British Army recruited Scots to fight in the American colonies. As a concession to the long-standing repression of Scottish culture, the army allowed Scottish regiments to wear the long kilt. It was a cheap uniform. The Scot lived, fought, and slept in his garment that doubled as a uniform and blanket, while the English soldier had both a uniform and a blanket. It was also about that time that they came up with a military tartan, later known as "Black Watch" and a variation on the same for the Gordon Highlanders. Anyway...

"The breacan faile is of double width tartan, but 4.5 to 6 yards long. I would start with 6-8. I believe that 45" width may be too small. Think about this: The length of the kilt as you wear it depends on the width of the cloth, because of the way it is folded. The cloth is laid on the ground and plaited width-wise for the length of the cloth. When finished plaiting, you slide a belt under it, lay on it, wrap it around you, and then stand. The result is supposed to be a shorter inside kilt and a longer outside one. The outside one is then gathered, and pulled behind and over the left shoulder, where it is fixed with a brooch."

You might find a piece of tartan in a fabric shop. It mught be a blend - ancient tartans were of wool. But, some look like wool, and it are inexpensive - far less expensive than a "clan" tartan the Scottish vendors sell. Its pattern is almost symmetrical - tartans are symmetrical. It is a dark color - ancient tartan was dark. Buy nine yards, figuring to cut off what you don't want and use the remnant for something else. If you are tall, wait until you find a fabric 60" wide. It may be you don't need that width. Still, 45" seems a bit short.

Bibliography:

• Newsgroups: soc.culture.Celtic Heritage
  From: Robert Scott Stephenson
  Subject: Re: Persecution of Scotland
  Date: Wed, 26 Oct 1994
• From: William John M. Christie
  Newsgroups: soc.culture.Celtic Heritage
  Subject: Re: Persecution of Scotland
  Date: 26 Oct 1994
• J. Charles Thompson
  So You're Going To Wear The Kilt
  Heraldic Art
  Arlington, VA

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