e-ReferenceDesk's College and 50 State Learning Resource Guide

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State Symbols

The official state symbols represent the cultural heritage and natural treasures of each state or the entire United States

Washington Symbols

Washington Symbols

Arboretum, Bird, Dance, Day, Fish, Flag, Flower, Folk Song, Fossil, Fruit, Gem, Grass, Insect, Marine Mammal, Motto, Nicknames, Seal, Ship, Song, Tartan, Tree

Washington State Tartan

State Tartan

Adopted in 1991

A tartan is a design for the weaving of cloth consisting of perpendicular bands of contrasting colors on a solid background.

RCW 1.20.110
State tartan.
The Washington state tartan is hereby designated. The tartan shall have a pattern of colors, called a sett, that is made up of a green background with stripes of blue, white, yellow, red, and black. The secretary of state shall register the tartan with the Scottish Tartan Society, Comrie, Perthshire, Scotland.

[1991 c 62 § 1.]

The Washington State tartan was designed in 1988 by Vancouver, USA Country Dancers Margaret McLeod van Nus and Frank Cannonita to commemorate the 1989 Washington State Centennial, VUSA-SCD's Vancouver class researched and designed what is now the Washington State Tartan. VUSA-SCD's Kelso class produced a book of centennial dances. It is identified by the background color green, which represents the rich forests of Washington, the "Evergreen State."

The perpendicular bands of contrasting colors represent the following features:

blue for the lakes, rivers and ocean;

white for the snow-capped mountains;

red for the apple and cherry crops;

yellow for the wheat and grain crops; and

black for the eruption of Mt. St. Helens.

The bill, designating a state tartan, was signed into law in 1991.

The new Tartan, registered and seal affixed by the Council of the Scottish Tartans Society, was presented to and ratified by the Washington State Legislature in 1991 becoming the first official State Tartan west of the Mississippi. The first swatch of Washington State Tartan fabric was woven by Dalglisb Mill in Scotland. The Pendleton Mill in Washougal, Washington wove the first bolt from which table runners were made and donated for use in the State Capitol in Olympia, Washington.

State Symbols

State symbols represent things that are special to a particular state.

symbol \ˈsim-bəl\
noun

Etymology:
in sense 1, from Late Latin symbolum, from Late Greek symbolon, from Greek, token, sign; in other senses from Latin symbolum token, sign, symbol, from Greek symbolon, literally, token of identity verified by comparing its other half, from symballein to throw together, compare, from syn- + ballein to throw — more at devil
Date: 15th century

1: Something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible.