"Kirk" is the Gaelic word for "Church". Thus "Kirkin'" is used to mean "churching" or "blessing".

The Kirkin' O' The Tartan service has its origins in the eighteenth century. After Scottish patriots were defeated at the battle of Culloden in 1745, the British Parliament passed the Proscription Act of 1746. In an effort to destroy Highland Clan identity, the act banned the speaking of Gaelic, the wearing of the kilt and other tartan garments, Scottish music and dance, and the playing of the pipes which the Act said "emitted an aggressive and warlike sound".

It was 36 years before the Act of Proscription was revoked and, during all those long years, Highland churches had a special day when the Highlanders gathered, each with a small piece of Tartan concealed under their outer clothing and, with the right hand held over the precious piece, the minister blessed the tartans and the clans they represented. All then joined in the prayer that it might please God speedily to cause the repeal of the devastating Act of Proscription.

When finally the Act was repealed, the highlanders, as Cunningham in his History of Scotland has written "returned with joy to their beloved kilt, no longer bound to the unmanly trews of the lowlanders." It is in spiritual continuity with this era of Scottish History that we celebrate the liturgy of the Kirkin'O' the Tartan.

The service slowly fell out of common use until 1941 when the Rev. Peter Marshall, chaplain of the U.S. Senate and minister of Washington's New York Avenue Presbyterian Church created a special Sunday service to give solace to Scottish-Americans involved in the war. This service was similar to the ones conducted in the Scottish Highlands after the Act of Proscription and has steadily increased in popularity in the United States and Canada.