On April 4, 2008, President George W. Bush signed a Presidential Proclamation making April 6th National Tartan Day.
This is the day set aside to celebrate the contributions made to the world by Scots and people of Scottish descent. April 6th was selected as National Tartan Day because it is the anniversary of the day that Scotland declared their independence from Great Britain.
On this day, Scots are supposed to wear their clan's tartan plaid, so, if any of you happen to see someone wearing a kilt today, that is the reason.
I am a descendent of Clan Gunn from the Northern Highlands of Scotland in the area around Caithness, in Sutherland. As yet, I cannot afford a kilt (they are expensive!), but I have a clan Gunn tartan plaid tie. It's somewhere in my house but I can't find it, so, instead of wearing my tie today, I am posting this graphic, which is the clan Gunn tartan plaid:
The clan Gunn motto is "Aut Pax aut bellum" which means "Either peace or war".
This is a picture of me wearing my clan Gunn tartan tie:
Ladies, go out and kiss a Scotsman today. Men, go out and kiss a Scottish Lassie, but get her permission first.
Everyone is a Scot today.
11 comments:
This is the second year since Tartan day started that I am unemployed, but I always wore my kilt to work. Today I'm not going out so I'm not wearing my tartan. I will be wearing it all tomorrow, though, as I will be playing at a funeral for a firefighter.
My clan is MacLaine of Lochbuie, my great-great-great-grandfather Alexander MacLaine came over from Scotland in 1830. Our motto is "to conquer or die." My wife's grandmother was a Leith from the Orkney Islands, and it is her tartan I am wearing on my blog. (I wear it for firefighter things because of the colors).
No Scottish blood in this household.
But in Mr. AOW's high school (private), PE consisted of Scottish dancing. Yes, Mr. AOW had to wear a kilt.
My high School (Dunedin, Fla.) band wore kilts and all, and had pipers. When our football Team played Riverview, the two bands (They wore kilts as well) marched towards each other on the field, bagpipes blaring, and it looked like an ancient battle!
My maternal grandparents were from from Dundee and Edinburough. Donaldsons and Burnetts....
Rick, you should have been wearing your tartan plaid yesterday. Even if you don't own a kilt, you need to get something with your clan tartan.
About the easiest thing to get is a tie made out of clan tartan. Just wear a plain shirt with it or the fashion police will be on you.
"Hoot, mahn!" As the Stooges would say.
BTW...really dig Braveheart and Rob Roy (Liam Neeson). Just sayin'.
I thought Braveheart was dumb, and never saw Rob Roy. :oD
I watched Braveheart again last night. I think it's a great movie, although it is wildly historically inaccurate. Yes, William Wallace did lead the rebellion against England, but it started when he murdered a couple of English soldiers because they teased him, and his temper got the better of him. It had nothing to do with a woman.
That's why I thought Braveheart was dumb - I don't like wildly historically-inaccurate movies. IF you are going to present history, at least get close to the truth.
Bah! I can take wildly inaccurate if the movie is good. Yeah, I dig history, but I'll worry about historical accuracy later. True, I'd prefer both, but that's what we've got Ken Burns for.
Mark,
Somehow, I think your Wallace story is not totally accurate, either, as far as the intitial motivating factor. What does it say about the Scots that they would follow a guy who can't take a bit of teasing into war.?
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