Meaning of Tartan's ?

[macwilkin]

I think the 1953 Nova Scotia tartan is the first I can recall ever seeing designed with explicit symbolism for the colors in mind.

And, if I remember correctly, the Nova Scotia tartan was designed for an exhibition for an agricultural show as a way to avoid choosing a particular clan's tartan, and thereby be accused of "favoritism". I believe Teall & Smith tell this story in District Tartans.

The story has always reminded me a bit of why Lord Elcho chose Hodden Grey for the London Scottish:

Lord Elcho, later The Earl of Wemyss and March. He decided to clothe the Regiment in Hodden Grey, the homespun cloth known throughout Scotland. This avoided all interclan feeling on the subject of tartan and, as Lord Elcho said "A soldier is a man hunter. As a deer stalker chooses the least visible of colours, so ought a soldier to be clad."

-- http://www.londonscottishregt.org/history.cfm

So, in an ironic twist, the first tartan with colour symbolism (provided the NS tartan is the first) was created to avoid clan symbolism.