Tartan question, hunting and dress

[azwildcat96]

Interesting question...I know with the Morrison tartans, there are reds (modern, ancient and weathered) and greens (modern, ancient, and weathered). I had someone try to sell me a Morrison Hunting tartan, which was in fact really doesn't exist, and was just a Morrison green weathered. So I'm not sure if some vendors choose to use the weathered and hunting (or green variations and hunting) as interchangable descriptions. I'm interested in what the experts have to say here.

[Morris at Heathfield]

Interesting question...I know with the Morrison tartans, there are reds (modern, ancient and weathered) and greens (modern, ancient, and weathered). I had someone try to sell me a Morrison Hunting tartan, which was in fact really doesn't exist, and was just a Morrison green weathered. So I'm not sure if some vendors choose to use the weathered and hunting (or green variations and hunting) as interchangable descriptions. I'm interested in what the experts have to say here.

There are two Morrison tartans (three, if you count the red one as two variations), as you noted, but there is no standard terminology for distinguishing them. The Scottish Tartans Authority refers to them as "Morrison" and "Morrison Society". Lochcarron refers to them as "Morrison Red" and "Morrison Green". And both Strathmore and the House of Edgar refer to them as "Morrison Red" and "Morrison Hunting".

In general, the term "hunting tartan" is used to refer to dark tartans that were designed for clans that already had bright clan tartans in use, but it is sometimes applied retroactively to dark tartans that were not originally designed as hunting tartans. The Macdonald of the Isles tartan is another such tartan that is sometimes referred to as a hunting tartan. Conversely, red (or yellow) clan tartans are sometimes referred to as "dress tartans" even when, in most cases, they weren't designed as such.