A month ago, when I first got word of plans for a Scottish Kirkin’ o’ the Tartan service at Hopkinsville’s First Presbyterian Church, I had never heard of this tradition.
Incredibly, the announcement came to me in an email from church member Nancy Tankersley that I read on my cellphone shortly after arriving in Scotland for a vacation with two high school friends. I made a note to check back with the church after I returned home — and then got back to exploring Scotland. A few days later, my friends and I were walking through a field where the British army defeated Scotland in the Battle of Culloden in 1746.
I did not know until I came home and checked in with the Rev. Becky Durham at First Presbyterian that the Kirkin’ o’ the Tartan traces its roots to the Battle of Culloden.
For a few decades after their defeat, Scots were prohibited from wearing their family tartans, fabric woven with unique patterns representing clans. According to stories handed down among the Scots, many secretly carried pieces of tartan hidden beneath their clothing, and in kirk (the Scottish word for church) the clergy would bless their tartans.
The Kirkin’ o’ the Tartan is a Scottish-American tradition, which began in the U.S. during World War II to raise money for relief efforts in Great Britain.
Sunday at First Presbyterian, bagpipers Brendan and Grace Abernethy, of Hopkinsville, played for the service. Eric Sennett, who plays a snare drum, joined them.
Several church members formed a procession and carried their tartans on large frames into the church. More members carried scarves and pieces of tartan to a table at the front of the sanctuary.
Durham blessed the tartans. As she told me earlier in the week, the blessing is actually for the families associated with the tartans.
Following the service, the musicians played outside on the church’s front steps. There was a very light rain, and members of the church joined the musicians outdoors before heading to the fellowship hall in the basement for an assortment of homemade shortbread.
The music, the blessings and the rain all combined in a way that made me feel as if my vacation to Scotland had been extended a wee bit.
You can find more photos from First Presbyterian’s Kirkin’ o’ the Tartan here.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
