Tartan is a pattern or design that consists of broad bands of different colours that cut each other horizontally and vertically.
Initially it has been woven in woollen and later on it has been accepted as a design for all types of cloths like cotton, terry cotton etc. Tartan has a history of more than three centuries and in the ancient days this pattern has been seen with the people of royal families and with warriors. At a time when each feudal lord has maintained separate private armies, a separate colour or a specific pattern of tartan was designated to a specific family. It has been considered as the uniform of that particular clan. This clan tartan was mainly used to identify the person. The use of clan tartans in wars helped to find who the enemy is and who the friend is.
There are some historians who are firm on the opinion that the clan tartans were not existed before the 19th century. They are stating that the during 1746 Battle of Culloden the method of identifying friends from the enemies were done by the change in the colour of broad ribbons wore on the upper parts of the hands and not by clan tartans. According to them the he clan tartan came to exists by the beginning of the 19th century only. Almost all aristocratic clan had their own tartan weaver. He was exclusively used to weave their
clan tartan. Anyway, by 1815, there was a move to register the clan tartans. Highland Society of London, which was originally formed on 1778, asked all the clan chiefs to furnish the details of their family clan and to get it registered. A tartan finder can go through these histories in many websites. It was also said that many clans were not aware about the clan tartan at that time.
As mentioned earlier the tartan weaver associated with each clan is designated to weave their
clan tartans only. They were highly paid among the weavers. Even now many people, who are really proud about their family history and heritage, are using their clan tartan on special occasions. Though there is no restriction on using any pattern of tartan nowadays, many such people insists on their clan tartan only.
The tartan is a pattern, which gives an aristocratic looks to the person who wears it. This feature made it a favourite for uniforms. There are several sites in the world of internet who acts as a tartan finder to help you in this regard. These sites may not contain the history of clan tartans which tells us that tartans were used as uniforms even centuries before. The feature that, it is possible to make it look different with small changes in colour or the width of bands made this design as a favourite for uniforms
