Kirkin O’ the Tartan set for Sunday

ALBANY — In what has become an annual tradition at Albany’s Covenant Presbyterian Church, families, especially those with Scottish roots, will receive a special blessing and hear authentic bag-piping this Sunday at the “Kirkin O’ the Tartans” service.

The special service, which the church has been conducting for the past 14 years, will be held at 11 a.m.. Weather permitting, the service will be held outside the church by Lake Loretta.

In addition to the normal worship service practices, the “Kirkin O’ the Tartans” service will also feature a special procession where Scottish families will display their family tartans and identify themselves. The service will also feature traditional Scottish bagpipe music performed by Joe Ashcraft of Tallahassee, who has been performing at the service for 13 years.

According to Covenant Pastor Biff Coker, the “Kirkan O’ the Tartans” service essentially derives from the Gaelic language and translates to the Blessing of the Family.

The service itself hearkens back to an ancient Scottish tradition that originated after the Scots were defeated by the English at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.

Following that defeat the English passed a law that forbade Scots from wearing or displaying their distinctive clan or family tartans. Each Scottish clan had garments, including kilts, with a unique colored, plaid pattern that helped them identify each other. During times of battle the various tartans helped the Scots organize into battle groups and inspired fierce family and national loyalty.

After the English forbade the display of tartans, many family members kept small swatches of material with their tartans and would take those swatches with them to worship services. When the pastors would pray these Scots would take hold of their swatches and ask God to bless their families.

The Presbyterian Church, traces the origin of a formal “Kirkin O’ the Tartans” service to 1941 when Dr. Peter Marshall, then Chaplain of the United States Senate, first conducted the service at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C.

Since that time “Kirkin O’ the Tartans” services have been performed in numerous Presbyterian churches throughout the country as a way for all families, not just Scots, to ask for God’s blessings on their families.

Coker said that during the time he has spent at Covenant administering the service, the church seen numerous Scottish families attend, even those that don’t attend Presbyterian Church.

“We’ve had folks from all over to come the service,” said Coker. “It’s really a neat thing to see. We do a big processional where several tartans are displayed, then we ask people in the audience to identify themselves and their family and display their tartans.”

Coker, along with others who take part in the service, typically wears a traditional Scottish kilt, to add to the festive nature of the service.

“Not everyone’s brave enough to wear the kilt, but we do have some,” Coker said.

The pastor added that the service is open to anyone who would like to attend, regardless of whether they have a Scottish background or not.