Kirkin O the Tartan
The Kirkin 'O' the Tartan is an Old Tradition where families or individuals have there Tartan Blessed.
Easter Sunday worship service in conjunction with the Annual Maclean Easter Highland Gathering. Pipe band, Scottish dancing and the blessing of the Tartans are all part of the service and held in the delightful open parkland adjacent to the Maclean Scottish Bicentennial Cairn and Commemorative Heritage Wall.
The kirkin ceremony has special meaning and is, as we know a very special time for Scots. In the year 1746 in the era of Bonnie Prince Charlie, the highland clans suffered several defeats against the English. To subdue the spirit of the vanquished Highlanders and to destroy the clan system, Westminster invoked the Act of proscription, which banned the wearing of any sign of tartan, forbad speaking in Gaelic, and outlawed Scottish music, dancing, or the playing of the pipes which the Act said quote "emitted an aggressive and warlike sound".
This draconian Act was in place for 36 years until 1782, during which time Highland churches had a special day when the highlanders gathered, each with a small piece of tartan hidden under their outer clothing and with their right hands over the precious piece of tartan they all prayed that it might please God speedily to cause the repeal of the devastating Act of Proscription.
It is in this spiritual continuity with this era of Scottish History, that we celebrate the liturgy of the Kirkin o the Tartan. The concise Macquarie Dictionary does not contain the word Kirkin. Kirk is Scottish for church, so that i deduce that Kirkin must mean churching or more appropriately Blessing, which is what occurs today as the tartans are blessed in this ceremony. Google informs us that the Kirkin ceremony did not gain modern wide popularity until the first International Gathering of the Clans in Nova Scotia in 1979.
This service is a most apt way to continue the annual Highland Gathering as we give thanks for the many Blessings bestowed upon us.
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