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Bring Forrit the Tartan
| Article
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14130 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
1 / 1988 |
4,000 Words |
| Author
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Sheila K. Webster-Jain
Folklorist Sheila K. Webster-Jain teaches in the Department of
English Language and Literature at the University of Maryland,
College Park. |
Symbols of Scottish ethnicity include names that echo the clan system, highland costume, highland dance, bagpipe music, and various festive events--all of which have their roots in long tradition. But it is for their distinctive and colorful costumes and fabrics that Scots are perhaps best known throughout the world. Less well known is the history of the evolution of Highland dress, from its role as the attire of Scots living in the most remote parts of northwestern Scotland to its elevated status as the Scottish national dress.
Following years of warfare against England, which culminated in the Scots' defeat at Collodon in 1745, great changes occurred in the Scottish Highlands. Rebellions and hard economic times followed in the wake of legislative union between Scotland and England, causing many Scots to emigrate to North America and elsewhere. During the eighteenth century, the Highland costume was consciously adopted as a unifying ethnic symbol by those who stayed in Scotland and those who went abroad.
The historical context
To comprehend the importance of Highland dress as a symbol of Scottish ethnicity, it is essential to know something of the history of Scotland, particularly of the Highlands. The traditional social unit of the Scottish Highlands was the clan. From about A.D. 1200 until the demise of the clan system after the Jacobite Rising of 1745, the Highland clans pursued their unique way of life tucked away in nearly inaccessible glens nestled in the northern mountains. According to James Scarlett, Highlanders were reputed to be so fierce that "until a very late date, any Lowlander who found himself obliged to visit the Highlands invariably made his Will first."
Normally, descent was traced patrilineally, although an ancestress might serve as a link in the genealogy. Fellow clansmen fought side by side and often shared war cries with related clans or with those who had been allied at one time or another against a common enemy. Scottish clans had established territories, and feelings of kinship and common residence were closely associated. The clans have a long history, tracing their origins through the Gaelic invaders to the Pictish natives of Scotland. This form of social organization, in which genealogical units were also political and territorial units, survived longer in Scotland than in most of Europe.
Each clan had various emblems by which its members might be identified. In war, the battle cry was used to stir
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