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3rd April 09, 08:54 PM
#1
In the case of some modern tartans, the designer has specified the symbolism of the colors.
See for example this registration of the Arizona Tartan >>> http://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/tar...s.aspx?ref=111
Otherwise, trying to read symbolism into a tartan color scheme is romanticism and futile, IMO.
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3rd April 09, 09:03 PM
#2
From my own research, the colors of the tartans were almost incidental depending on where the cloth originated. The local plants used for the dying process were more the reason a color was used then any meaning. Altho i do remember reading that one Clan changed one of their setts to include more red to commemorate the loss of life in battles. But sorry to say, i can't remember which tartan it was. (I will look thru my research to locate said piece of information)
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3rd April 09, 11:43 PM
#3
I asked the same question last time I was in the UK. I was told that the colors were a camo for hunting. The colors came for the area that they live in. So they could blend into the background better. That is just what I was told, not to sure if that is true or not. But, it made sense to me.
(Its not just the kilts it was all of the clothing they wore.)
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4th April 09, 01:43 AM
#4
to George Black... red is very unlikely to have been the easiest colour to produce, infact there are stories that suggest that the use of red was to show wealth/status etc and that would have been because of the expense of the dye stuff. Most of the early tartans are fairly earthy colours,and then came blues/greens and darks.
Even today red colours are usually the ones that fade first
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4th April 09, 02:20 AM
#5
I know that color photographs and films were possible in the early 1940s, but rare. That wonderful use of the switch from black and white to color in "The Wizard of Oz" sums it all up, though. 
My father used to repair and colorize black and white photographs, and I was never impressed with the results. Perhaps now in the computer age the results are much better; I wouldn't know.
I tried to ask my inner curmudgeon before posting, but he sprayed me with the garden hose…
Yes, I have squirrels in my brain…
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4th April 09, 09:54 AM
#6
 Originally Posted by Ted Crocker
I know that color photographs and films were possible in the early 1940s, but rare. That wonderful use of the switch from black and white to color in "The Wizard of Oz" sums it all up, though.
My father used to repair and colorize black and white photographs, and I was never impressed with the results. Perhaps now in the computer age the results are much better; I wouldn't know.
Things are greatly improved now Ted although when it comes to colorizing classic movies there are two schools of though 180 degrees apart. For instance one of the studios once talked of (I don't think they ever actually did it) colorizing the first part of The Wizard of Oz. You could hear the shouts of don't you dare from one end of the country to the other.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.
Three Canadian Tartans (Maple Leaf, Ensign of Ontario and Essex Country) all have symbolisms listed for the tartan's colors.
Dee
Ferret ad astra virtus
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4th April 09, 10:38 AM
#7
At the same time we have the Douglas Grey which dates from at least 1842 which is the Douglas pattern but black and grey "colors" and Douglas is from the gaelic Dhub: black & glas:grey/water which could be interpreted that the black and grey might, I stress might, have been taken from the meanings of the words that make up the name. I personally doubt it but it is interesting that the colors of the Douglas grey match the meaning of the words that make up the name.
Rob
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4th April 09, 10:56 AM
#8
Although most tartans have no symbolism to their color scheme, this is not always the case.
Maybe I will be corrected here, but the story that I've heard about the black Douglas tartan does have meaning in the tartan's colors. Something along the lines that the name, Douglas, was derived from the name of the land, which was named for the black (dubh) water (glas) in the land. And that's why the original tartan is done in black.
The Barry
"Confutatis maledictis, flammis acribus addictis;
voca me cum benedictis." -"Dies Irae" (Day of Wrath)
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4th April 09, 11:07 AM
#9
 Originally Posted by The Barry
Although most tartans have no symbolism to their color scheme, this is not always the case.
Maybe I will be corrected here, but the story that I've heard about the black Douglas tartan does have meaning in the tartan's colors. Something along the lines that the name, Douglas, was derived from the name of the land, which was named for the black (dubh) water (glas) in the land. And that's why the original tartan is done in black.
Just checked, the Scottish Register of Tartans lists the Black Douglas from 1920 and the Douglas (4083) from 1819 yet in the registration notes:
Registration notes: This is the accepted Douglas Clan/Family tartan. It first appeared in Wilson's 1819 list as no.184 and the name 'Douglas' was certainly attached to it by 1880 when it appeared in Clans Originaux as Douglas Hunting. The blue guards on the black started out life as being azure but over the decades became darker and darker. This is a variation of Black Douglas (#1029, original Scottish Tartans Authority reference) with white instead of red. Lochcarron swatch. This is the tartan worn by the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). In the original tartan, the green and blue are so dark that it is almost impossible to see the lines crossing the greens. The earliest known date from a list compiled by D.C. Stewart from Wilsons of Bannockburn letters was 1826.
here it states the Douglas is a variation of Black Douglas replacing red with white. Interesting.
Rob
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4th April 09, 06:10 PM
#10
 Originally Posted by Rob Wright
here it states the Douglas is a variation of Black Douglas replacing red with white. Interesting.
Rob
Yes, the Modern Douglas is just a colored version of the older Black Douglas. There's no meaning to the green and blue colors, they just look pretty. But the original tartan, the one in black, is said to have been colored that way because of the family name, which came from the land's water, which I am assuming was dark and foreboding.
The Barry
"Confutatis maledictis, flammis acribus addictis;
voca me cum benedictis." -"Dies Irae" (Day of Wrath)
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