Honestly, I had no idea that Canada had its own official tartan, let alone that each of the provinces and territories also had one that they’d designed to identify themselves. Why have we all been wearing Royal Stewarts and Black Watches for these many years? Poor form!
Our national tartan is called the Maple Leaf Tartan (and is not the red and black checked Buffalo Plaid that has become a Holiday staple over the last while). It was adopted just in time for our 1967 Centennial Year of celebration, and it tells the simple but recognizable story of our country’s most obvious symbol. The colours of the pattern explain the seasonal life span of a maple leaf. There is a dark green representing summer, gold to mark the early autumn, then that pretty red that scores of seniors in highway buses drive hours to see in late fall, and finally offers a nod to the leaf’s winter state by adding just a touch of brown. The overall effect is gently old-fashioned and feels a bit cozy. Lovely!
I’ll bet it flew off the shelves in ’67! With the number of home sewers that were still in operation back then, I’ll bet men, women, and kids of all ages were turned out in Maple Leaf Tartan wear. There would have been dresses, skirts, pants, vests, and jackets of all sorts, proudly bearing the country’s official plaid. Now that I think about it, I feel that we had a set of curtains in our house oddly reminiscent of the Maple Leaf Tartan.
These days I live in a tourist town, and I periodically wander through the shops that cater to our tourist trade, just to see what they’re hawking. I have seen the Maple Leaf Tartan used for oven mitts and tea towels but have just assumed that those items must be target marketing our Scottish visitors. How naïve! (Also now rather naïve is the idea that Scottish travellers only buy souvenirs if they come in a tartan designs!) (I’m sorry Scotland.)
As each Canadian province or territory has struggled to identify and promote its own personality, its place in The Canadian Family, and the unifying qualities of its land and people, each has designed a flag, picked out a bird, a tree, a flower, assembled a coat of arms, and come up with a motto (always the Latin version, which isn’t quite as catchy) that they feel speaks to how they see themselves. Some provinces have even gone out on a limb and snagged a provincial fish (Saskatchewan and Manitoba both trumpet the Walleye—is that even legal?), some selected a fruit, a mineral and/or gemstone, even a sport. Three provinces have official songs about themselves!
However, there have been struggles and not every province boasts an Official tartan. The Plaid du Quebec was designed by a clothing manufacturer in 1965 and has been registered with the tartan firm in Scotland who acknowledges and archives all tartans being used all over the world. Still, it seems as though there has been a bit of a muck-up trying to get it passed by the Quebec provincial government. (I’ll bet you are as surprised as I am!) That step is necessary in order for all of us to be able to acknowledge it as official-Official here in Canada. In April of this year, there was a surge of interest in getting Plaid du Quebec pushed through the provincial channels, so let’s hope it works and Quebec can officially add its Scottish symbolism to the rest of its collection.
The other tartan that is not considered official-Official, is the one for Nunavut. Keep in mind that they only struck out on their own in 1999 and have had a bunch of other matters on their plates to attend to. They’re busy and they’ll get to it when they get to it. Also, it might be fair to note that the Scottish haven’t played any particularly prominent role in the history of Nunavut so I’m sure the relevance of having a tartan to call their own, just doesn’t have the same pull as it did for say, Nova Scotia. I’ve seen their unofficial tartan and it’s quite pretty. In the meantime, Nunavut has got an Official Territorial Mace that’s very eye-catching, and something that none of the rest of us thought to add in as an official symbol. To each their own!
While the majority of Canadians are not Scottish by heritage (only 12.1 – 14% cop to it), most of us will jump aboard the tartan bus if we know that it is associated with our Canadian Melting Pot idealism. I for one would LOVE a run at a swatch of that Maple Leaf Tartan. I don’t know what I’d do with it yet but, you know me—I’d think of something!!!
And then you’d all get one for Christmas!
