Spinning a Yarn

https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/spinning-yarn/1583953

by hooboy • 7 years ago

32 5 7 years ago

campaignlive.co.uk

tomcam• 7 years ago

I feel vindicated. The article points out that the ancient tradition of Scottish tartans is actually a commercial invention about 250 years old, with a clear and unambiguous origin story. Hilarious example of capitalism at its, er, most... vigorous. Sir Walter Scott, not fooled for a minute, even plays a cameo role.

What a relief. As a US citizen with extensive Scottish ancestry this has puzzled me because I couldn’t find much historical evidence of this practice. While I loved the idea of a family tartan and so did my kids. But I also didn’t like the idea of being bamboozled, giving us Yanks an even worse reputation. So much falls into place...

aoki2• 7 years ago

The bogosity of clan tartans has been documented since at least 1940; see the footnotes in the chapter on Highland culture in Hobsbawm and Ranger’s The Invention of Tradition (1983).

hirundo• 7 years ago

since at least 1940

According to the article, since The Glasgow Herald article in 1895. It turns out that Father Christmas isn't real either, but some things people really don't want to interrogate.

pjc50• 7 years ago

Crucially tartan was banned for about forty years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dress_Act_1746

Not quite a lifetime, but enough to totally disrupt any kind of continuity of history.

Spinning a Yarn

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