Posted by Anna on 4th Apr 2023
Everything About Tartan Day Around The World
If you are Scotland or simply a lover of Scotland culture, surely you cannot ignore tartan. Scots love tartan so much that they established National Tartan Day to celebrate this heritage. Here's everything you should know about this special anniversary, Tartan Day.
What is Tartan Day? And When?
Tartan Day
On April 6, the same day the Declaration of Arbroath was signed in 1320, North Americans celebrated Scottish history with Tartan Day. Midway through the 1980s, it first appeared in Canada. In the 1990s, it spread to other Scottish expatriate communities. On July 1, the anniversary of the lifting of the 1747 Act of Proscription that forbade the wearing of tartan, an equivalent International Tartan Day is celebrated in Australia.
Tartan Days often feature Highland dancing, pipe band parades, and other Scottish-themed activities.
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Origins of Tartan Day
Tartan Day
At a gathering of the Federation of Scottish Clans in Nova Scotia on March 9, 1986, the idea of a "Tartan Day" to celebrate Scottish ancestry in Canada was floated (whose name means "New Scotland"). Clan Lamont President Jean Watson asked provincial governments to declare April 6 as Tartan Day in a petition. Nova Scotia issued the first such proclamation in April 1987. Following the lead of other Canadian jurisdictions, the Ontario Legislature passed a resolution on December 19 declaring April 6 as Tartan Day in response to an initiative by the Clans & Scottish Societies of Canada.
The Scottish Coalition USA sought to have this day acknowledged in the US as it was in Canada at a meeting held in Sarasota, Florida, in 1997. In 1998, Trent Lott played a key role in the Scottish Coalition's campaign to have the United States Senate declared April 6 as National Tartan Day. This in turn prompted the designation of Tartan Day Observance on April 6 each year by the Congressional and, subsequently, Presidential branches of government.
Since 1989, wearing tartan on July 1 has been promoted in Australia. In Australia, the day has been marketed as International Tartan Day since 1996. Some states have formally recognized it, but not on a federal level.
Tartan Day around the world
Canada
Canada
4.7 million Canadians, or around 15.1%, identify as Scottish. The Sons of Scotland Pipe Band, Canada's oldest civilian pipe band, hosts a yearly "Gathering of the Clans" on Parliament Hill in Ottawa at noon on April 6 or the Sunday closest to that day.
The pipe band will hold this significant event for the 15th consecutive year on Sunday, April 23, 2023. The inaugural this day celebrations took place in 2011, the year when Canada's national tartan, the Maple Leaf, was introduced.
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Scotland
Scotland
The first Tartan Day festival in Scotland was started by Angus Council, whose district includes Arbroath, on April 6, 2004, and it has since joined other regional councils in striving to realize its potential as a global holiday.
Argentina
Argentina
The largest such population outside of the English-speaking world is found in Argentina, where there are about 100,000 people of Scottish heritage. The Scottish Argentine Society hosts the annual this day march of Scottish porteos, which debuted in Buenos Aires on April 6, 2006. To commemorate the occasion in 1320 that served as the impetus for this festival, a symbolic key to the Arbroath Abbey's gate is worn.
Australia
Australia
There are three million Scots in Australia or those who are descended from them. In Australia, local communities observe International Tartan Day on July 1 or on the nearest Sunday for some community organizations.
Since 2001, the Scottish Australian Heritage Council and the Australian branch of the Scottish National Party have petitioned Canberra for the federal government to recognize International Tartan Day in order to recognize the Scottish contribution to Australian history, including Scottish radicalism's influence on the labor movement and the Labor Party, as well as Australia's purportedly "egalitarian and meritocratic" society.
As part of the Scottish government's international business strategy, Linda Fabiani, minister of culture in Scotland, launched a proposal in 2008 to turn the Australian celebration into an official Scotland Week.
United States
New York
In the US, there are about 25 million people with Scottish ancestry. The United States House of Representatives unanimously approved House Resolution 41 on March 9, 2005, declaring April 6 to be "National Tartan Day."
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