Religious tartans

The religious diversity and tolerance in Scotland has been celebrated with tartans representing different religions. Jews and Scots have both gained from their encounters of the past two centuries and there exists a tolerance and respect based on shared traditions. In 2008 a Scottish rabbi created the world's first official Jewish tartan. Mendel Jacobs, worked with the Scottish Tartans Authority and religious scholars to design a tartan that would reflect Scotland's Jewish history. He said: "The Jewish people have been an integral part of Scottish culture for more than 300 years, with the first Jew recorded in Edinburgh in 1691. Talking about the colours in the tartan, he added "The blue and white represent the colours of the Scottish and Israeli flags, with the central gold line representing the gold from the Biblical Tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant and the many ceremonial vessels." in addition "The silver is from the decorations that adorn the Scroll of Law and the red represents the traditional red Kiddush wine".

The Jewish tartan

The cloth has been produced by Lochcarron of Scotland tartan, who have seen a global demand for the design from the estimated 15 million Jews around the world. At the time of the last census Scotland had a significant Jewish population of 6400. Many other religions have chosen to mark their close bond with Scotland. According to the Independent newspaper, Buddhism is the fastest-growing religion in Scotland A Samye Ling Buddhist tartan was designed for the Buddhist Centre and Monastery of the same name, situated in Eskdalemuir, South West Scotland. Buddhist tartan

The tartan colours represent the five elements in the Tibetan spectrum - Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Space. In addition Abbot Lama Yeshe Losal Rinpoche, designed a simple, dignified red check tartan to line the robes of his monks and nuns He says "we are fortunate to be established as part of the Scottish community and wanted a tartan for our Sangha to show how much appreciation we have for the people, culture and tradition of Scotland". The Clergy tartan has been described as the only occupational tartan. Established as a tartan for clerics since 1850, the Clergy tartan does not represent any particular sect or denomination. While most popular with ministers of the Church of Scotland it is also worn by ministers in the Church of England, the Scottish Episcopal Church, and many other denominations. Clergy tartan

The arrival of Sikhism in Scotland is relatively recent, while the first Sikhs settled in Scotland in the early 1920