The Great Glen - The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands and Islands - page 200

THE TRUTH ABOUT TARTAN
To much of the world, tartan is synonymous with Scotland. It's the natural choice of
packaging for Scottish exports from shortbread and Sean Connery, and when the Scottish
football team travels abroad, the high-spirited “Tartan Army” of fans is never far behind.
Tartan is big business for the tourist industry, yet the truth is that romantic fiction and
commercial interest have enclosed this ancient Highland art form within an almost
insurmountable wall of myth.
The original form of tartan, the kind that long ago was called Helande , was a fine, hard and
almost showerproof cloth spun in Highland villages from the wool of the native sheep, dyed
with preparations of local plants. It was worn as a huge single piece of cloth, or plaid , which
was belted around the waist and draped over the upper body, like a knee-length toga. The
natural colours were clear but soft, and the broken pattern gave superb camouflage, unlike
modern versions, where garish, clashing colours are often used to create impact.
TRANSFORMING TARTAN
The myth-makers were about four centuries ahead of themselves in dressing up the warriors
of the film Braveheart in plaid: in fact tartan did not become popular in the Lowlands until the
beginning of the eighteenth century, when it was adopted as the anti-Union badge of the
Jacobites . After Culloden, a ban on the wearing of tartan in the Highlands lasted some 25
years; in that time it became a fondly held emblem for emigrant Highlanders in the colonies
and was incorporated into the uniforms of the new Highland regiments in the British Army.
Then Sir Walter Scott set to work glamorizing the clans, dressing George IV in a kilt for his
visit to Edinburgh in 1822. By the time Queen Victoria set the royal seal of approval on both
the Highlands and tartan with her extended annual holidays at Balmoral, the concept of tartan
as formal dress rather than rough Highland wear was assured.
With the gentrification of the kilt came “rules” about the correct form of attire and the idea that
every clan had its own distinguishing tartan. To have the right to wear tartan, one had to belong,
albeit remotely, to a clan, and so the way was paved for the “what's-my-tartan?” lists that appear
in Scottish souvenir shops. Great feats of genealogical gymnastics were performed: where lists
left gaps, a marketing phenomenon of themed tartans developed, with new patterns made for
different districts, companies and even football teams.
Scotsmen today will commonly wear the kilt for weddings and other formal occasions;
properly made kilts, however - comprising some four yards of one hundred percent wool
- are likely to set you back £300 or more, with the rest of the regalia at least doubling that
figure. If the contents of your sporran don't stretch that far, most places selling kilts will rent
outfits on a daily basis. The best place to find better-quality material is a recognized Highland
outfitter rather than a souvenir shop: in Inverness, try the Scottish Kiltmaker Visitor Centre
at the Highland House of Fraser shop (see opposite).

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various tartan products being made in the workshop. The finished products are, of
course, on sale in the showroom downstairs, along with all manner of Highland
knitwear, woven woollies and Harris tweed.

Ness Islands
From St Andrews Episcopal Cathedral , on the west bank of the river, you can wander
a mile or so upriver to the peaceful Ness Islands , an attractive, informal public park
reached and linked by footbridges. Laid out with mature trees and shrubs, the islands
are the favourite haunt of local anglers.

Caledonian Canal
Half a mile upstream from the Ness Islands park, the River Ness runs close to the
Caledonian Canal , designed by Thomas Telford in the early nineteenth century as a link