We have just been informed that our Clan Convenor, Mr Michael Carruthers has received an invitation to attend the above event. This is a great honour, and there is no better man than Michael to proudly carry our banner and represent Carruthers in this inaugural parade through the Scottish capital.
The event is supported by ScotlandShop who also attended our Chief’s inauguration in Annandale last year and with whom Carruthers has an ongoing professional relationship. They were one of the first commercial outlets to sell the official Carruthers tartan in various and high quality attire to the general public.
It is occasions such as these that the individual visual identity of our clan and family are proudly displayed. Our tartan, carrying the Carruthers history in its threads, will stand alongside the tartans of other ancient Scottish names.
Therefore, as a Carruthers to wear any other tartan and on this day especially would be nothing less than a sacrilege and we can assure you Michael wears the Carruthers tartan well.
The piece below, written by Ross McEwen, Sennachie to the Chief of McEwen, clearly offers information regarding the event.
“The inaugural Edinburgh Tartan Day Parade will take place on Saturday, May 10, 2025, in the heart of Scotland’s Capital City.
The parade, which will total 1,600 people marching to the sound of enormous pipe bands and cheer will include The Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs, the Lord Lyon and his Officers, numerous Scottish Clans and a select number of Armigerous clansfolk representing their respective Clan names, and I am very pleased and honoured to be representing Clan MacEwen on this march and during the celebration.
This exciting event will bring together tartans, pipe bands, dancers, musicians, organisations, and individuals from Edinburgh, as well as across Scotland, and beyond – to celebrate the country’s rich heritage, tartans, culture and inclusivity.
The inspiration for the Tartan Parade Scotland stems from the successful NYC Tartan Day Parade and the ongoing collaboration between Tartan Parade Scotland and Kyle Dawson, President of the NYC Tartan Day Parade.
The proposed route for the Tartan Parade Scotland 2025 will commence with its journey from the iconic Royal Mile, weaving its way down Cockburn Street, proceeding to Waverley Bridge, and culminating at the picturesque Mound Precinct. Attendees can expect a dazzling display of clan tartans, as well as lively performances of pipe bands and highland dancers, organisations and individuals all coming together to honour Scotland’s legacy.
The Tartan Parade Scotland aims to proudly celebrate the Scottish culture, foster community engagement, and commemorate Edinburgh’s significant 900th anniversary as a city. The event’s vision is to unite people in the appreciation of the beauty of tartan, from Scotland and all around the world.
One of the principal organisers of the event is ScotlandShop, a fantastic US/UK producer of high quality tartan products with whom Clan MacEwen have an existing professional relationship with.
If you’re in Edinburgh on Saturday 10 May, I hope you’ll be wearing some tartan and looking out what will be a fantastic, loud, colourful and joyous celebration of tartan and Scotland”.
Ross M McEwen Esq. LLM (Dist), FSA Scot. Seannachie to the Chief.
Appreciating a designated tartan to an individual family or clan only appeared in Scotland in the early 1800’s, having a clan tartan has since become synonymous with Scottish pride and clan and family identity.
Although Carruthers were late to the party in having one, we are very lucky to have a tartan within whose threads our own border history is reflected.
All tartans have their own ‘dna’ through the thread’s colours and count. It is this pattern/sett, specific to the name that bears it, that individualises it to the family or clan who owns it.
If it is recognised as an official tartan belonging to a Scottish clan or family and designated as such, it will be registered with the Scottish Register of Tartans, a government agency based in Edinburgh. This way the McEwen, the Irving, the Bruce, the Elliot etc maintain their ownership of the tartan and through that their peculiar Scottish and personal identity.
This of course does not prevent any individual wearing whatever tartan they wish unless its a private weave, but the tartan they choose to wear is a name-badge for the clan the tartan belongs to ie Bruce is Bruce, Carruthers is Carruthers.
As we are all now aware Carruthers were added as a sept to Bruce only in the early 1900’s. This was done specifically to bolster the sale of goods of larger ‘clans’ by the commercial tartan suppliers and was nothing to do with the beneficiary clan itself. However, we were not on our own, as many other smaller and armigerous families have found themselves in the same boat. But in our case there are two things very wrong with this scenario:
- Sept is a highland construct, and was never used by lowland or border families.
- Carruthers had their own recorded chiefs going back to the 11th century, although our chiefship became dormant in 1809.
Progressively, the sept situation is being slowly eroded and rectified, especially in border and lowland named, as many of these clans and families, if the proven genealogy is available, petition the Lord Lyon to have a Chief confirmed. This is the process, albeit long and arduous to get right, that our own family followed to attain our goals.
But if the genealogy is unavailable ie in the case of Pringle and McEwen, a gathering, supervised by the Lord Lyon and held in Scotland is set up by the clan itself to choose a Commander, a precursor to having a chief
It is the wearing of our tartan, these days proudly worn all over the world, that at gatherings, festivals, games and on days such as the Tartan Parade in Edinburgh allows us the ability to stand amongst the crowd and be recognised by our peers for who and what we are: proud Carruthers, hailing from Annandale in the ancient Scottish border region of Dumfriesshire.
However and accepting where we were at the time, as young folks without a fuller understanding of our history, many of us still wore a tartan and with great pride. Sadly this belonged to another family, that being the tartan of Bruce. Although greatly honoured to do so, it was not Carruthers nor did it accurately define us as such.
We must remember that all Bruce tartans registered to that family whether ancient, weathered, hunting or whatever, if stated and registered as Bruce, remains Bruce and not Carruthers. Therefore please don’t let the uneducated to advise you otherwise.
For this reason and to remove any existing misconceptions and through many years of research we were able to offer a more accurate and far better understanding of our past. As such we no longer need to be mistaken as members of any other name, to include Bruce, by wearing their tartan. We are once again recognised in our own right as Carruthers.
After 210 years of being dormant we, as of 2019 have a recognised hereditary chief confirmed by the Lord Lyon, in Peter Carruthers of Holmains, and with that, our own registered and official Carruthers tartan.
So do what you do best Michael, walk the walk and fly the flag high in our name and once again make us all proud by your actions.
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