Tartan Day and International Tartan Day

Tartan Day is celebrated on 6 April each year in the United States, Canada and Argentina, mainly by people of Scottish descent, and more sporadically in a few places in Scotland. International Tartan Day is celebrated in Australia and New Zealand on 1 July.

The origins of Tartan Day are quite recent, the first ever celebration taking place on 1 July 1982 in New York. It was intended that this be a one-off celebration of the 200th anniversary of the repeal of the Act of Proscription, which had forbidden Scots to wear tartan.

In 1987, Nova Scotia and the other Canadian provinces declared April 6 to be Tartan Day, the date being the anniversary of the 1320 Declaration of Arbroath, on which it is said the American Declaration of Independence was modeled. Canada has continued celebrating on this day each year since that date, and in 1998, the United States Senate recognized this date as well.

Since 1996, Australia and New Zealand have celebrated International Tartan Day on 1 July each year in commemoration of the repeal of the Act of Proscription in 1782.

The first Tartan Day parade in Argentina took place on April 6, 2006.