breacan

-ain, pl. -an, [& ** -ain] sm Highland plaid. 2 Tartan. Parti-coloured cloth was used by the Celts from the earliest times but the variety of colours in the breacan was greater or less, according to the rank of the wearer. That of the ancient kings had seven colours, that of the Druids six and that of the nobles four. In the days of Martin the tartans seemed to be used to distinguish the inhabitants of different districts and not the members of different families as at present. He expressly says that the inhabitants of the various islands were not all dressed alike but that the setts and colours of the various tartans varied from isle to isle. As he does not mention the use of a special pattern by each family, it would appear that such a distinction is a modern one and taken from the ancient custom of a tartan for each district, the family or clan originally most numerous in each part eventually adopting as their distinctive clan tartan the tartan of such district. Martin's information was not obtained on hearsay, he was born in Skye and reared in the midst of Highland customs.

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