Scottish clan
A Scottish clan (from Scottish Gaelic clann, literally 'children', more broadly 'kindred'[1]) is a kinship group among the Scottish people. Clans give a sense of shared heritage and descent to members, and in modern times have an official structure recognised by the Court of the Lord Lyon, which regulates Scottish heraldry and coats of arms. Most clans have their own tartan patterns, usually dating from the 19th century, which members may incorporate into kilts or other clothing.
"Clan gathering" redirects here. Not to be confused with The Gathering of the Clans.
The modern image of clans, each with their own tartan and specific land, was promulgated by the Scottish author Sir Walter Scott after influence by others. Historically, tartan designs were associated with Lowland and Highland districts whose weavers tended to produce cloth patterns favoured in those districts. By process of social evolution, it followed that the clans/families prominent in a particular district would wear the tartan of that district, and it was but a short step for that community to become identified by it.
Many clans have their own clan chief; those that do not are known as armigerous clans. Clans generally identify with geographical areas originally controlled by their founders, sometimes with an ancestral castle and clan gatherings, which form a regular part of the social scene. The most notable clan event of recent times was The Gathering 2009 in Edinburgh, which attracted at least 47,000 participants from around the world.[2]
It is a common misconception that every person who bears a clan's name is a lineal descendant of the chiefs.[3] Many clansmen, although not related to the chief, took the chief's surname as their own either to show solidarity or to obtain basic protection or for much needed sustenance.[3] Most of the followers of the clan were tenants, who supplied labour to the clan leaders.[4] Contrary to popular belief, the ordinary clansmen rarely had any blood tie of kinship with the clan chiefs, but they sometimes took the chief's surname as their own when surnames came into common use in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.[4] Thus, by the eighteenth century the myth had arisen that the whole clan was descended from one ancestor, perhaps relying on Scottish Gaelic clann originally having a primary sense of 'children' or 'offspring'.[4]
About 30% of Scottish families are attached to a clan.[5]
Clan organization[edit]
Clan membership[edit]
As noted above, the word clan is derived from the Gaelic word clann.[6] However, the need for proved descent from a common ancestor related to the chiefly house is too restrictive.[7] Clans developed a territory based on the native men who came to accept the authority of the dominant group in the vicinity.[7] A clan also included a large group of loosely related septs – dependent families – all of whom looked to the clan chief as their head and their protector.[8]
Lowland clans[edit]
An act of the Scottish Parliament of 1597 talks of the "Chiftanis and chieffis of all clannis ... duelland in the hielands or bordouris". It has been argued that this vague phrase describes Borders families as clans.[9] The act goes on to list the various Lowland families, including the Maxwells, Johnstones, Carruthers, Turnbulls, and other famous Border Reivers' names. Further, Sir George MacKenzie of Rosehaugh, the Lord Advocate (Attorney General) writing in 1680, said: "By the term 'chief' we call the representative of the family from the word chef or head and in the Irish [Gaelic] with us the chief of the family is called the head of the clan".[9] In summarizing this material, Sir Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw Bt wrote: "So it can be seen that all along the words chief or head and clan or family are interchangeable. It is therefore quite correct to talk of the MacDonald family or the Stirling clan."[9] The idea that Highlanders should be listed as clans while the Lowlanders should be termed as families was merely a 19th-century convention.[9] Although Gaelic has been supplanted by English in the Scottish Lowlands for nearly six hundred years, it is acceptable to refer to Lowland families, such as the Douglases as "clans".[24]
The Lowland Clan MacDuff are described specifically as a "clan" in legislation of the Scottish Parliament in 1384.[25]