So how can Americans who want to participate in clan events do so? I’ve never been to a Highland Games or a kirkin of the tartan, but I am very interested in history particularly the history of how in less than 100 years highland symbols came to represent all Scotland. How groups such as the Highland Society of London created this identity for themselves. To me the fact that the Allen brothers, Queen Victoria, Scott, and Wilson’s of Bannockburn had a hand I created the image of highland dress as we know it today is what makes it interesting. Clan tartans didn’t come down from the mists of time.
Really my original question was asking about who and why do some Scots interest themselves in these identities and how do they view them. Heritage is more about the present than the past and I’m fascinated in how the past, or versions of the past, are used and interacted with by people today.
I hope these thoughts make some sense, I’m writing at the end of a long and tiring American thanksgiving day.