First Fridays with the Crew - Tartan Day

What's special about April 6? It's Tartan Day—a celebration of Scottish heritage that's also held in Australia on July 1st. But why those two dates?

• On April 6, 1320, the Declaration of Arbroath was signed declaring Scottish independence in a letter to Pope John XXII. 
• July 1 is the anniversary of the repeal of the 1747 Act of Proscription that banned the wearing of tartan. 

Where is Tartan Day celebrated?

• Tartan Day originated in Canada in the mid-1980s after being proposed at a meeting of the Federation of Scottish Clans in Nova Scotia. 
• In Australia in 1989, the Scottish Australian Heritage Council began encouraging Australians to wear tartan on July 1 to celebrate Scottish heritage and raise funds for charitable causes such as drought assistance. 
• In the USA in 1997, the Scottish Coalition USA in Sarasota Florida worked toward seeing a Tartan Day recognized. In 2002, a parade that included 8,250 pipers and drummers was led by Sean Connery through the streets of New York. 
• In Scotland, the first Tartan Day festival was held on April 6, 2004. 
• In Argentina (where they have the largest community of Scottish descendants outside the English-speaking world), the first Tartan Day parade was held in Buenos Aires on April 6, 2006. 

Sean Connery with members of the USAF Reserve Pipes & Drums.
Tartan Day, Washington D.C.

What do people do on Tartan Days?

• Events include parades of pipe bands, Highland dancing, and other Scottish-themed activities. 
• And I bet there's also a lot of reminiscing about the Scottish stories that we love. 

Read on to see the Get Lost in Story crews' favorite Scottish stories, heroes, heroines & more! 

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Jacqui Nelson 

In The Last of the Mohicans, cultures collide along with love and war in the Adirondack Mountains in 1757. The French enlist the Huron. The Iroquois side with the British. And Hawkeye and his adoptive Mohican father and brother are caught in the middle…along with two Scottish sisters, Alice and Cora Munro.

Oh, Cora Munro - what a character and a performance by Madeleine Stowe! Cora speaks her mind, she misjudges Hawkeye, she apologies, she’s miffed by his response to her apology, she surprises him by pulling a musket from her skirt pocket because he wisely advised a soldier traveling with her to pick up a weapon after they survived a brutal attack earlier that day. She’s smart and adaptive. She’s brave and protective - not only of her loved ones but strangers too. She judges people by what they do, not by who they say they are - or might one day be when life is easier. And she’s Scottish :)

What else is Scottish about The Last of the Mohicans movie? Its beautiful music. The main theme song was taken from the tune The Gael by Scottish singer-songwriter Dougie MacLean. I also love his song Caledonia (Latin for Scotland). CLICK HERE to listen to Dougie MacLean sing Caledonia, or CLICK HERE to listen to The Gael played by Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (and see some lovely pictures of Scotland too).

Read an excerpt from my novella Choosing Bravery set in Oregon 1868 with my Scots-Canadian hero, Lachlan Bravery, and my French-American heroine, Élodie Rousseau.

Avril Tremayne

I have to give a shout out to Clandara, by Evelyn Anthony. I can't remember when I first read this book, but I know that every time I re-read it the power of it is every bit as breathtaking. It's really stood the test of time for me, and that's saying something, given it was first published in the 1960s.

Katharine Fraser and James MacDonald fall in love when they meet outside their native Scotland - they would never have done so if they'd met at home, because their families have been feuding for hundreds of years. Despite both families being furiously opposed to their relationship, a betrothal is finally wring from both families - only for a heartbreaking betrayal to tear Katharine and James away from each other.

This is a brutally passionate story of a love that will not die, no matter what the hero and heroine put each other through. The love plays out against the turbulent backdrop of the Jacobite rising of the 1740s, and it is completely engrossing. I think I'm going to go off and read it again right now!

Amanda McIntyre

My first encounter with a Scottish Highlander came in the form of Christina Skye's Roan MacLeod, the guardian ghost of Draycott Abbey. (*insert sigh) In CHRISTMAS KNIGHT,(c.1998) tis true that poor Hope O'Hara never had a chance-nor did this lasses heart.

On my keeper shelf, I have read it a number of times, like a breath of fresh air, the descriptive scenery and deeply emotional and flawed characters renew what I so love about reading--why visiting Scotland remains at the top of my bucket list.

 Skye weaves in the magic and history of Scotland and raises the bar on the epitome of chivalry, honor and what it means to be a hero.

Other fav books featuring Scottish heroes include:
The  Great Scott by Donna Kauffman
The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie  by Jennifer Ashley

Movies:
Highlander
Rob Roy


MacIntyre DNA:
Recently we  did the DNA testing on one  of the ancestry sites and it resulted in my husband being more from Irish roots, while mine were decidedly more Scottish roots.

I chose McIntyre as my pen, it's a family name derived from clan MacIntyre-which Americanized became McIntire on my grandmother Glenna's side. Tartans vary from ancient to modern, but I've always loved this version of MacIntyre tartan.

Learn more at the Scottish registry of Tartans

Lizbeth Selvig

In all honesty my first introduction into the world of Scottish fiction was the television show The Highlander. I had some serious crushing over Adrian Paul going on at that time. It was weird, wild, and kind of wonderful despite all the beheadings, and since I'm totally a contemporary girl when it comes to books and movies, it fit my preferences, too. But unlike most of my fellow authors and readers, I didn't binge on historical Scottish Highland romances. It wasn't until I met Patience Griffin at reader event and heard about her contemporary Scottish romances that I had to try one. It was just darling--the story of Cait Macleod, a disillusioned reporter returning to her small home town of Gandiegow, Scotland, and Graham Buchannan, a movie star who retreats to the town for anonymity and has no love of reporters. Perfect conflict! From the moment I finished the book, I knew I wanted to write one of my own--but I had no moral authority to  think I could pull of a Scottish novel.

Then a year ago I took a walking trip in Scotland and got to know 100-miles of the Highlands up close and personally--rain and all. My story ideas flowed and I'm now working on a new series! My moral authority then showed up in my Ancestry DNA test where, to my Scandinavian surprise, I learned I had 1% Scottish blood. I am definitely taking what authority I can get! Suffice it to say I'm now binging on all books contemporary Scottish. I'm hooked on Scotland and all the beautiful tartans, and everything that comes
along with having fallen in love with that beautiful, wild country!

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Hope you'll share your favorites in the comments. 

We'd love to hear what you love about the Scots!