"eras© mwm WMm& . . . " 



A Hundred Thousand Welcomes 



to September's Featured Exhibit— 



"Plant Hy£S anil ^rnttfsij ©artans 



v> 



HE ORIGIN of the 



Scottish tartans is 

 lost in antiquity, 

 along with the iden- 

 tity of the sea-faring 

 Picts and the Cale- 

 donian land-dwellers 

 who together eventually made up the 

 greater part of the community of the 

 Pictish nation. The ninth century saw 

 the Picts finally dominated by the Dal- 

 riadic Scots (of obscure Celtic origin), 

 the spread of the Gaelic language, and 

 the early structure of clanship. 



The word "clan" {clanna in Gaelic) 

 means children, and was the name ap- 

 plied to a group of kinsmen united under 

 a chief, claiming a common ancestry, 

 and living as one great family on the 

 lands they possessed. The clans rose to 

 prominence in the thirteenth century 

 and the system was not broken until 

 1746, when, following the Highland de- 

 feat and massacre at Culloden, the Eng- 

 lish sought to destroy the old clans by 

 forbidding the Scot to wear the kilt and 

 the plaid, because, to the Highlander, 

 the tartan was a symbol of racial dignity. 

 According to the Norwegian saga of 

 Magnus Barefoot, Magnus returned from 

 an expedition to the Hebrides in 1093 

 to introduce into Norway the dress then 

 worn by the men of the Western Isles, 

 which was "a mantle and kirtle" (the 

 plaid and tunic), "the legs . . . being un- 

 covered." There is also a drawing, sup- 

 posedly made in 1306, of a clan chief 

 clothed in tartan trews (close-fitting 

 breeches), kilt, jacket and skin sporran 

 (purse). The historian, John Major, de- 

 scribed in 1 512 the costume of the High- 

 land Scots as "a saffron shirt of linen 

 and a loose garment made of several 

 folds of many-colored woolen material 

 called tartan, which was worn about the 

 shoulders or folded over one shoulder 

 and then girded about the body with 

 a leather belt." This girded garment 

 reached to the knees and was called the 

 plaid (pronounced plade, as our pro- 



Page 8 



nunciation and use of the word "plaid" 

 is unknown in Gaelic or in Scots). The 

 saffron shirt went out of use around 1 600 

 and only the belted-plaid was used. By 

 1725 the little kilt was popular. 



The individual clan tartans had de- 

 veloped regionally in direct relation to 

 dye-plants growing in the areas owned 

 by the various clans. Each clan had its 

 own distinctive "sett," as the pattern of 

 the tartan is called. The cloth was wo- 

 ven by the women-folk from the soft 

 wool of Highland sheep. Yarn for the 

 cloth was colored with homemade vege- 

 table dyes with the use of mordants such 

 as fir clubmoss and woad. Alum, which 

 was also used, tended to give a harsh feel 

 to the cloth whereas the plant mordants 

 retained the original softness. The weav- 

 ers used measuring sticks on which were 

 wound the exact number of threads of 

 each color to be used. A web of tartan 

 on the loom is two feet, two inches wide, 

 so that the actual size of the pattern may 

 vary but the color divisions relative to 

 one another must be kept to scale. 



Dyes were obtained from whatever 

 plants were most abundant in the area 

 that was home to the clan. Therefore, 

 if the predominant color in a tartan is 

 bright crimson, the clan probably in- 

 habited a district where the lichen Leca- 

 nora was plentiful. If the predominant 

 color is dark blue, blackberries were 

 abundant there; if deep yellow, the clan 

 lived on slopes and hills where the brack- 

 en fern grows; if green, the clan home 

 was in a high, craggy district where 

 broom and whin are abundant. 



Although the proscription of tartan 

 was rescinded in 1782, the method of 

 preparation as known to the old High- 

 landers had almost become a lost art. 

 When a generation had passed away 

 and the Highlanders were again per- 

 mitted to wear their national garb, those 

 who had known the secrets of preparing 

 the dyes and the old weavers who had 

 known the secret "sett" patterns were 

 gone. In many instances the sett-sticks 

 had been destroyed or were lost. This 



accounts for the differences sometimes 

 found in the sett patterns of the same 

 clan. Fragments of tartan found on the 

 field of Culloden which have recently 

 been reproduced may be recognized as 

 belonging to a certain clan but the col- 

 ors and even the sett differ somewhat 

 from the later pattern. Of course, a 

 third difference occurred in color bright- 

 ness due to the modern use of synthetic 

 rather than vegetable dyes. 



Other variations were deliberate. 

 "Dress" tartans appeared when it was 

 felt that the family tartan was not 

 bright enough for impressive occasions; 

 "hunting" tartans, of darker pattern, 

 arose when the clan dress was too bright 

 for camouflage on the heather moors. 



After the restoration of the tartan in 

 1782, the identity-concept of the clan 

 tartan revived with renewed energy. 

 Every chief and clan wanted to resume 

 "their" tartan, and the former local or 

 tribal tradition came to have conscious 

 precision. The tartan became invalu- 

 able for preserving the clan as a com- 

 munity at a time when industrial changes 

 tended to minimize family activities. 



The pageant of mankind has always 

 been a colorful one. Man's innate love 

 of color has been expressed in all ages 

 and cultures largely through the use of 

 plant pigments. The Museum's fea- 

 tured exhibit for September, in Stanley 

 Field Hall, illustrates some of the plant 

 sources of these pigments. In addition, 

 it displays a map of Scotland locating all 

 the clan territories, and includes sam- 

 ples of many of the better known tartans. 

 When a part of this exhibit was recently 

 introduced on Members' Night, it was 

 interesting to note the number of people 

 who mentioned a Scots ancestor and 

 who searched eagerly among the many 

 samples displayed, for "their" tartan. 

 Even though we do not all have a Scots 

 granny, we can still admire the colorful 

 tartans and recognize that they are in- 

 terwoven with cuimhne nach leid as, "the 

 memory that will not fade!" 



DOROTHY GIBSON 



PRINTED BY CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM PRESS 



