TARTAN has been worn in parts of Scotland for hundreds of years and is one of our biggest cultural exports.
There are currently thousands of these patterns around the globe with many of them being associated with countries, organisations and, of course, families or clans.
If you've ever wondered what your family tartan is, here is everything you need to know.
What is tartan and where does it come from?
Tartan is a patterned cloth featuring crossing horizontal and vertical bands of multiple colours which form simple and/or complex patterns.
The earliest tartan-like cloth documented in Britain was uncovered in Falkirk and was found to date back to the 3rd century AD.
Evidence of early tartan use was also depicted on a surviving fragment of a statue of Roman Emperor Caracalla. The work, which was part of the triumphal arch of the Volubilis, was completed in 217 AD and depicts a Pictish prisoner wearing tartan trews.
The patterned cloth later became associated with the Scottish Highlands with each tartan being particular to a local area rather than any clan.
Tartan began to fall out of regular use after the passing of the Dress Act of 1746 which attempted to bring the warrior clans under government control by banning Highland dress.
It was later adopted as the symbolic national dress of Scotland when King George IV wore a tartan kilt on his 1822 visit to Scotland. It was then further promoted by Queen Victoria.
How do I find my family or clan tartan?
Finding your family tartan is much easier than you think with a number of pages like the MacGregor and MacDuff website indexing these.
Not only does the MacGregor and MacDuff website allow users to find their family tartan, but it also provides an opportunity for those interested to purchase a sample of it.
Once you've entered your surname in the search bar, a whole host of tartans matching that name should appear. To find the one linked to your family, keep your eyes peeled for the term 'clan'.
However, it should be noted that some names may not have their own specific tartan.
The kilt hire firm states: "If nothing is coming up, you then need to do a little research into your lineage and find a relative in your family that has the closest connection to Scotland.
"Often, people who know they have Scottish ancestry but can’t find their tartan will usually discover that their Scottish lineage comes from their mother's side.
"Another possibility for not finding a tartan linked to your family name is because it was historically a sept of another Clan."
