Happy Tartan Day!

By act of Congress, Sunday is Tartan Day- the commemoration of the Scottish Declaration of Arbroath in 1320, which included these stirring words: "It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honors that we are fighting, but for freedom -- for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself."

As an Ulster Scot, I'm not sure whether I should display the Forbes tartan or the Buchanan tartan; "Waters" is a last name associated with both clans, and as I understand it I'm entitled to wear either. The United States, Illinois and Iowa each have their own tartans, though they are something less than historically authentic for obvious reasons.

So I've decided to play it safe and display the Ulster tartan above. I know. It's an Irish tartan, actually. But as somebody whose ancestors migrated back and forth across the Giant's Causeway since time immemorial, it seems appropriate.

Besides, it's the thought, they say, that counts.