"Modern Clans" Sorry I don't get it?

[SouthernCelt]

There have been many stories/books/movies about the Highland Clans and their customs. That was then, this is now. Despite being distantly related to my Chief, he owes me nothing as the "Clan System" today is just an association of distantly related people of the same name. It has been my observance that the larger "Modern Clans" are typically those that had lots of children and force them to come to The Games as a sort of family reunion. The smaller clans probably have distant relatives of the same name that have been in the U.S. so long that they have lost their Scottish identity and customs or don't know where those customs came from.

[BuchananBiker]

If in trouble, I have blood family to draw upon. I don't expect anyone else, regardless of the tartan they wear, to sacrifice for me. I'm also not expecting anyone in a different tartan to come steal my car and burn my house. The Old Clan system is gone.

That said, I do take pride in my ancestry. I felt a warming in my otherwise hostile personality at the games every single time another person in my clan tartan walked up and said "hi cousin". It happened alot. It caught my wife completely off guard. At the end of the day, for the first time in her life, she felt part of something bigger.

Yes, modern Clan is social. It's not a military or economic bond. It's like a family reunion where you meet your second cousin and feel kinship with a total stranger.
Yes, it's a bit romanticized. Yes it's irrational. But in this world, sometimes you need to be a romantic fool.

[Dale Seago]

Yes, modern Clan is social. It's not a military or economic bond. It's like a family reunion where you meet your second cousin and feel kinship with a total stranger.
Yes, it's a bit romanticized. Yes it's irrational. But in this world, sometimes you need to be a romantic fool.

From your keyboard to God's monitor screen!

[SFCRick]

when you did wear a kilt, what tartan did you wear?

[Graham A. Robieson]

Greetings,

Drawing on what I know from my family history, my Great-Great-Grandfather left Scotland with his wife to go to America they had 5 children born there, however 15 years later they moved back to Scotland, and with that through the census had another 5 children later in life, with a loss of a son...my research has been limited given the fact that my G-G-Grandfather couldn't read or write, and given my name is Robieson they were recorded as Robertson. I have no clan of which to claim, perhaps of that of Robertson (more though I call clan connections) given the history, I based my Robieson tartan on the Robertson Red sett, my father was a miner and my grandfather a colliery surface worker, as far as records go...I traced my ancestor to my G-G-G-G-Grandfather though I don't have a date to put to him, though I guess around 1780, one thing remains in my family and thats the sole story about hardship, my ancestors moved around on both sides of my family, you go where the work is!!! my Great-Great-Grandfather is the first record I have found in regards to leaving Scotland in search of a better life, though 15 years later returned to Scotland, I'll never know his story, though I do take pride in his efforts to keep his family going. Clan is something I read in books, though I would never want to restore the clan system, one Chief of Clan Sutherland has an infamy during the clearances, the clan system was dying after Culloden, though it was the clearances that put the nail in the coffin.

Raising regiments was possible cause the rasing of troops through the tenants of the clan, kept the system going in a military sense, where the clan transulated into a fighting force for the British Army, along with the kilt, even though there was a ban on Highland Dress. Clan and Tartan are different matters in regards to history, clan is about the people, tartan is about the dress of the people, though you do not need a clan in order to wear tartan or the kilt, there suffering was the result of change, change in Scotland, change in politics, change in economy and changes in priorities, chiefs had to do what he could to keep there homes safe from the taxes put on them...so heres the understatement of the phrase...nothing personal...just business, cause clans went from warring to trading, and it was a change in trade, which meant crofters were no longer profitable, the loyal people of the clans could not stop or fore see this change, but what most brings pride to their story, is they adapted to the situation, and did not sit on their hands, they got up and went where they could make a life for themselves, today clan is more to do with the people not the chief, though chiefs today hold jobs just like everyone else, there role is more sentimental.


All the best,


Graham


Another note: Clann is gaelic for Children, the Chief holds place as father...how can a father throw his children out and replace them with more profitable sheep, not all chiefs cleared there tenants out...I read the history of Clan Donnachaidh, the clan didn't clear their tenants and was later bankrupted, they lost there lands and the tenants had to adapted to that change...though honourable the decision by the chief to keep his people together, lost his home as a result through the change in the economy.

[Gael Ridire]

Was asked what tartan I wore, I wore Kennedy (solid it to a guy who replaced me as representative), then I co-designed a state tartan with Dr. Phil Smith, and still have that. My family voted a few weeks ago and agreed to adopted the Irish National as our family tartan from now on.