Feathers in your cap

[pugcasso]

Anyone wear any feathers in their hats?


I have mildly read about certain numbers of eagle feathers worn by clan chiefs in Scotland...but I wonder if anyone has taken to wearing any bird feathers for any reason. Some older photos can show some really tall feathers sticking up from caps.


One day I wore a really large crow feather in my hat when I went to the local Saturday market. I have a bit of a thing for crow feathers.... I typically wear smaller crow feathers in my rolled up shirt sleeves representing the Norse ravens of Odin named Huginn (thought) and Muninn (memory). That's my own personal symbolic reasoning (not Celtic but Norse) which I'm currently attracted to.

(I collect crow feathers I find when out and about)

I just ordered a nice bronze raven pendant from ebay which I'll get eventually.... I guess currently I'm attracted to ravens/crows mostly.



Anyone wear any feathers for any particular reasoning?


(sorry if this is off topic... but I feel it is connected to some historic Scottish customs I have seen references to)

[Riverkilt]

I have nearly enough raven feathers collected to build a bird. Lots of them around here, the Navajo word for raven is "Gagee" which is sort of how they sound when they're complaining about something. They're also called "Navajo chicken" and "The Navajo Air Force" they're very accurate bombers if you get my drift.

I like wearing feathers in my hats but I find that most hats I own don't have a provision for accepting a feather - have to jury rig something to hold the feather.

I've wondered if I have enough raven feathers to build a sort of feather shoulder pad to ward off the rain.

[KiltedSergeant]

By tradition, only Clan Chiefs wear eagle feathers in their bonnets. Of course, there's no law prohibiting you from doing so, or wearing other birds' feathers. I've occasionally seen some local U.S. Scottish organization "Chiefs", Presidents, and the like wear an eagle feather in their cap. But, it is frowned upon by traditionalists, and considered a bit of an insult to the true Chiefs to whom that honor is normally reserved.

I like the look of feathers in a cap/bonnet/tam, or elsewhere on the clothing. Maybe you could post some photos.....

[Cygnus]

With Highland dress, you may want to steer clear of feathers, especially large feathers, in your cap. This is partly because you'll undoubtedly be accosted/harassed by somebody who has taken it upon him-/herself to police the rest of the world and partly because tradition assigns particular meaning to the wearing of feathers in Scotland's traditional attire.

It is true that it is usually eagle feathers that denote a chief (three feathers), a chieftan or baron (two feathers), or a person with a registered coat of arms (one feather); though at least one chief I'm aware of wears pheasant feathers instead.

The consensus (though far from "general") when this topic arises (and it has a number of times) is to wear no feathers or smaller feathers with Highland dress to keep from appearing pretentious and to avoid unnecessary debate. If a person were to wear a feather or feathers about as tall as the military hackle, for instance, I doubt most people would take it to mean anything about the bearer except that he likes those feathers. Much taller than that, and you'd probably be likely to get an earful and/or dirty looks.

Obviously, you're entitled to do as you please, but traditionally, large feathers are reserved for clan leaders and armigers.

[pugcasso]

Just curious if the Navajo consider the Raven as a "Trickster" in the mythological sense (if you know)? ... maybe they are more attached to Coyote in that mythological role (ie. Trickster) and Raven is more northwest coast (as a 'trickster' character).

I'm interested in mythology and spiritual symbolism (mostly Norse, Greek and I guess esoteric 'Christian' at present).


I'm more into 'Raven' in a Norse sense ( there isn't a lot of discoverable information regarding Huginn and Muninn but I am fascinated by them ... often when I see two crows together when I'm out and about, I will purposefully see them as these two mythological characters and use the opportunity to speculate upon my thoughts at that particular time ... a bit of a random process for self-introspection)

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I have heard of Scottish clan chiefs wearing eagle feathers but were raven or crow feathers ever used for some symbolic reason??

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It's odd (and unfortunate) that since I moved from the suburbs to near downtown I have found virtually no crow feathers .... whereas I had found many crow feathers when living in the suburbs.

I remember one spot I lived where every Autumn, hundreds and hundreds (maybe thousands) of crows would fly every sundown over my apartment towards a certain direction ... it appears they would assemble in a forested area on the grounds of a local University grounds.


Personally I am attracted to crows for emotional reasons I can't explain... for reasons regarding Norse mythology (the two ravens of Odin ... Huginn and Muninn) ... and regarding symbolism involved with European Alchemy ('crow' as the symbol of the initial stage of Alchemy ... the 'blackening' - the common idea that Alchemy was merely the physical attempt to create gold from lesser metals is false - it was an inner spiritual process for the individual to reach an enlightenment spiritual/mental stage).

Perhaps I will be attracted to Eagles more at some date... I remember seeing two bald eagles circling the Sun when driving with my friend ... she stopped the car and we watched them .... I later incorporated that into a painting.

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I don't know much about Eagles in Celtic symbolism/religion .... but I know in Norse symbolism, there is an Eagle at the top branches of Yggdrasil, the "World Tree", who has a hawk between his eyes (which makes me think the hawk is a symbol of the 'brow chakra' between the eyes to use an Indian - of India - reference ). At the base of Yggdrasil, is a serpent gnawing at the roots of the 'World Tree' ... so I ponder if this is similar to the Indian idea of the Kundalini or "serpent" energy coiled at the base of the humans spine). I personally think ancienbt peoples were often more in tune with such experiences than "rational" modern human who "thinks" perhaps too much.

Getting a bit off topic (perhaps) ... I often wonder how ancient Celtic and Norse people saw and felt about things ... were their religions and various customs based on some real felt experience (perhaps induced by some trance or Shamanic ritual).


The Eagle in some cultures is a symbol of the Sky god (in Greek, it is the symbol of Zeus)... I wonder if in some ancient Gaelic religious thread if there is a hint pertaining to this idea that made wearing eagle feathers... as a thunder/lightening god, Zeus/Jupiter/Thor all would be related to the Oak Tree (who knows, maybe Oak trees are more prone to being hit by lightening).... maybe there is some Celtic connection to that as well.


In esoteric Christian symbolism, the Eagle relates to the Evangel 'John' ...as the symbol for Scorpius, the Phoenix, and the Eagle (shown as an eagle on the Roman Catholic Cross) .


Oh well ... perhaps babbling too much here but it seems that is my role in life.... maybe it will induce some thoughts or ideas from some others out there in the internet Aether!.

[Rós Ó hAllmhuráin]

With Highland dress, you may want to steer clear of feathers, especially large feathers, in your cap. This is partly because you'll undoubtedly be accosted/harassed by somebody who has taken it upon him-/herself to police the rest of the world and partly because tradition assigns particular meaning to the wearing of feathers in Scotland's traditional attire.

It is true that it is usually eagle feathers that denote a chief (three feathers), a chieftan or baron (two feathers), or a person with a registered coat of arms (one feather); though at least one chief I'm aware of wears pheasant feathers instead.

The general consensus when this topic arises (and it has a number of times) is to wear no feathers or smaller feathers with Highland dress to keep from appearing pretentious and to avoid unnecessary debate. If a person were to wear a feather or feathers about as tall as the military hackle, for instance, I doubt most people would take it to mean anything about the bearer except that he likes those feathers. Much taller than that, and you'd probably be likely to get an earful and/or dirty looks.

Obviously, you're entitled to do as you please, but traditionally, large feathers are reserved for clan leaders and armigers.

yes I got had up about having pheasant feathers in my hat years ago, told to take them out as I'd get in trouble with the lord lyon... I have a booklet somewhere that gives the impression that the lord lyon has no durastriction (sp) in New Zealand... wish I had known before the telling off.

[pugcasso]

Regarding some information posted.... I also am a bit interested if there are any ideas concerning the angle of feathers placed in caps.... certain old photos I have seen have some feathers placed very vertically in the hat - perhaps indicating that they are to be interpreted as being more "strong" in symbolic meaning!


Personally the one time I had worn a crow feather in my hat, it was angled backwards at an angle. I suggest that I personally feel that even using a crow feather, at my current level, I wear it angled backwards.


Perhaps one day when I am older (and perhaps wiser) I will feel like wearing it more vertically)

[Bugbear]

Just curious if the Navajo consider the Raven as a "Trickster" in the mythological sense (if you know)? ... maybe they are more attached to Coyote in that mythological role (ie. Trickster) and Raven is more northwest coast (as a 'trickster' character). ...

No, I don't think so, but I would have to look through some of my books. Hunting comes to mind as Raven for Navajo (Dine'); I could be way wrong without looking it up or asking around, though.

That being said, feather threads and discussions are taboo for me on this forum, so I'm out of here.

[piperdbh]

*DISCLAIMER*
What I am about to write has nothing to do with the kilt, clan chiefs or eagles.


I have a felt "Indiana Jones" style hat which has a 1/4" band on it. I once found some feathers from a dominecker chicken (whose real name is Dominique, but around here we call them domineckers). I stuck the feathers under the band of the hat. Then I found a crow feather. I added it to the domineckers. So forth and so on, I added feathers, and now my hat has all it needs, don't you think?

[Nighthawk]

Until recently, I had refused to wear feathers in my bonnet. I have recently started, however. You see, I take a three mile hike around a lake every morning here in Colorado. The birds have, of course, been migrating. I was out walking about 2 weeks ago in a snow storm and a little duck crossed my path. I don't have the picture of him uploaded yet. He saw me and turned onto the path in front of me, waddling away as fast as his little flippers would carry him. In the process of trying to outrun me, he lost a couple of his tail feathers. They were absolutely beautiful and I thought to myself "What a wonderful little gift! How can I pass those up?" So I picked them up and have been wearing them ever since. And to make matters even more interesting, I ran across a lady recently who makes things from feathers. She's using my duck feathers and some turkey down to make a cockade for my hat badge. So having refused to wear feathers in my bonnet for my whole life, I finally have started- two lovely duck feathers and some down from turkey feathers.