This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/oI4.2ACIB/766.1 Message Board Post: The short answer about tartans is ... no. There is no O'Donnell clan tartan. The word 'clann' in Scot's Gàidhlig describes a Scottish family society that never truly even existed in Ireland. There are those who argue that the word 'sept' is more appropriate for Irish family political structures. It is all rather academic, I suppose. At any rate, tartans are strictly a Scottish tradition, and one fraught with many die-hard misconceptions. The first one is that the original practice of weaving 'tartan' kilts, etc, actually had anything to do with the clan society. According to the scottishtartans.org website, "Originally all tartan material was hand woven. Highland weavers experimented with local dyes to create individual artistic tartan designs, from the very basic to the extremely complex. You may see a Highlander wearing a plaid of one tartan, cadadh, or hose, of another, a jacket of a third tartan, etc. Tartans had no individual meaning or connection to a clan, but were instead worn for fashion, for show, or in most cases, for camouflage." Try telling that to a fierce Scotsman today, though! There is NO "official" registry of clan tartans such as there is for heraldic devices, though several organizations have so named themselves, and keep track of more than 4,000 designs. A particular tartan CAN be copyrighted, however, and most of these designs are owned and jealously garded by individuals, families or clann associations. Ironically enough, the tartans were first described by the Irish due to Red Hugh's engagement of Scottish mercenaries in 1596. According to www.scottishtartans.org/museum.html : "In 1594, Red Hugh O’Donnell of Ireland engaged the services of Hebridean mercenaries from Scotland’s western isles. Lughaidh O’Clery, in Irish Gaelic, described these men as being “recognized among the Irish by the difference of their arms and clothing, their habits and language, for their exterior dress was mottled cloaks to the calf of the leg with ties and fastenings. Their girdles were over the loins outside the cloaks.” Thus we have, from an Irish source, the first written description of the belted plaid, later to become that globally recognized Scottish national dress, the kilt. This length of woolen cloth some 5 feet wide and 15 feet long, which was worn gathered into folds and belted around the body, was called a “plaide” by the Scots. This material was often in a cloth referred to as “Tartane.” The French word tiretaine referred originally to a certain type of cloth, irrespective of color or pattern, but come to be applied in Scotland specifically to the interlocking stripes we know today. The word for tartan in Gaelic is breacan , from breac, meaning “speckled.” If you simply MUST have a tartan to identify with, there is an alternative. There are 'official' tartans registered for counties and provinces of Ireland, as well as for Ireland itself. The most logical choice would be the Donegal Irish County tartan, seen at: http://www.lochassyntmills.com/mill/irish-tartan-d/donegal.html , and http://www.house-of-tartan.scotland.net/house/tfinder.htm There is also nothing stopping the Clann O'Donnell association from adopting there own tartan pattern, though I suspect it would seem a bit presumptuous by most Highlanders ... Evidently somebody did this once for the Gallaghers, as there is a pattern registered and generally available called Gallagher Ancient. I don't personally recognize it, however, as I believe the kilt and tartan belong to the Highland Clanns of Scotland. All my best, Michael Monroe Gollaher www.ogallagher.org