First Presbyterian Church in downtown Hopkinsville is inviting community members to join the congregation for a Scottish service called the Kirkin’ o’ the Tartan on Sunday, Oct. 26.
Bagpipers Brendan and Grace Abernethy will play for the service.
“I love it when we do something new,” said the Rev. Becky Durham.
“It’s a lot of pageantry, which is going to be fun,” she said.
Durham said new church members Kat and Bob Sholly brought the idea of a Kirkin’ o’ the Tartan to First Presbyterian’s worship committee. The church embraced the idea and members got to work planning the service.
The Shollys helped members research their Scottish roots and identify their family tartan, the woven fabric with distinctive dyes and patterns associated with clans and regions of Scotland.
Community members are also invited to bring their own tartans to the service, which begins at 11 a.m.
Kirk is the Scottish word for church, and the Kirkin’ o’ the Tartan service is a Scottish-American tradition. The ceremony of prayers and scripture also includes a procession of tartans while bagpipes play. During World War II, U.S. churches used the service to raise money for relief efforts in Great Britain.
Tradition holds that tartans were secretly blessed in churches, or the kirk, when Scottish Highlanders defied dress restrictions imposed by the English for 36 years after England defeated Scotland at Battle of Culloden in 1746 for control of Great Britain. Tartans were prohibited during that period, but Scots carried hidden pieces of tartan under their clothing when they went to church, and ministers would join their act of defiance by slipping a blessing for the tartans into the service.
At a reception following the service, First Presbyterian members will share shortbread cookies they have made at home. The church is at the corner of Ninth and Liberty streets.
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.
