NATCHEZ &045;&045; Griffin. Wallace. Douglas. MacArthur. Henderson. MacCaleb. MacDonald. Dunbar.

Colorful banners with proud crests adorned the walls of First Presbyterian Church Sunday as the church celebrated the annual &uot;Kirking of the Tartans.&uot;

The service is held the second Sunday of each November to recognize the Scottish clans, or family groups, from which members descend.

&uot;Almost everyone can trace&uot; their family tree back to a Scottish connection, said Dr. Bill Penney, retiring president of the Scottish Heritage Society.

It is also held to bless those families and give their members a chance to rededicate themselves to God and each other. &uot;The saints left us a witness of Your faith and power in their lives,&uot; the prayer went. &uot;We rededicate ourselves and our families … to serve You and each other.&uot;

But to start the service, bagpipers of the Father of Waters Pipes and Drums, led by the Christian flag, the flag of Scotland and Scotland’s Royal Standard, made their procession up the front steps of church &045;&045; or, in the Scottish tongue, the &uot;kirk.&uot;

As they did, church member Beverly Aldridge &045;&045; herself dressed in a skirt of colorful tartan &045;&045; explained how the tradition began.

According to Aldridge, Peter Marshall, a chaplain for Congress, began having such services in the 1940s, and soon the tradition spread to churches throughout the United States. &uot;One of our friends, Andrew Wilson, did it in Baton Rouge, and that’s how we got the idea,&uot; said Aldridge, who hails from the Douglas clan. &uot;We’ve being doing it here about 10 years.&uot;

One part of the service is so subtle one might miss it &045;&045; the blessing of bits of tartan from each clan &045;&045; but Aldridge said the ritual has great meaning.

&uot;Just those little bits of tartan are significant,&uot; Aldridge said. The English outlawed the wearing of clan tartans, so the Scottish wore small pieces of their tartans inside their clothing.

&uot;They could have them blessed in church and the English wouldn’t know any different,&uot; Aldridge said with a raised eyebrow.