International Tartan Day 2017

In New Zealand and Australia, this is celebrated on July 1 – only a month away!

To the thousands of New Zealanders with Scottish ancestry, make sure you wear a touch of tartan (or even a lot of tartan) on 1 July. It is a fun opportunity to reconnect with your culture and celebrate your family heritage.

Why the first of July? It is the anniversary of the Repeal Proclamation of 1782, which annulled the Act of Proscription 1746 – this banned wearing tartan, and was one of a number of measures put in place in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745 that was designed to crush the Scottish Highlands and get rid of the Clan system. Penalties for wearing "highland clothing" were "imprisonment, without bail, during the space of six months and no longer; and being convicted for a second offence … shall be liable to be transported.”

Many Scots thereafter tended to disguise their Scottish associations, and this extended to the many who migrated to NZ and Australia; they assimilated and integrated and became almost invisible.

Tartan Day can help change that.

Scots in Spirit has a great range of tartan and tartan accessories - check out our website to find out more! Then on the day, wear tartan, do a bit of digging into your ancestry and talk to your friends and work colleagues – you’ll be amazed how many others will also have Scottish roots!

Note: the USA and Canada celebrate National Tartan Day on April 6, the date in 1320 on which the Declaration of Arbroath was signed. The Declaration's intent was to confirm Scotland's status as an independent kingdom, not controlled by England’s Norman kings, and defending Scotland's right to use military action when unjustly attacked. So there’s another opportunity to wear tartan!