Clan Crest Badge Affixed to a Day Sporran..

[Famous Willie]

Throwing this out to the Rabble. I have a Clan Crest Badge I wear on my cap which almost resembles a Scottish Driving Cap. I have it on the left side near the Center of the Cap down at the bottom edge. In other posts here in the Rabble some have mentioned affixing the Clan Crest Badge to the Top Flap on the Sporran. My Sporran is black leather with 3 black tassels on silver chains. It has a Thistle embossed on the flap. I was thinking the badge would look nice to be centered in the thistle part. I am about to head out to Church, so will attach photos of my sporran when I get back home. My Clan Crest Badge is the Fraser of Lovat...

Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks to all.. Wishing all my Canadian Friends here on the Rabble a Happy Thanksgiving Weekend.....

[Dollander]

I did something similar when upgrading my day sporran into a semi-dress. I bored two holes with a woodburning pen to accept the ends of the pin, though I have to admit that getting it to latch once in place was rather tedious. But now that I have, it's not going anywhere, and no glue required:

[Famous Willie]

A couple of photos I took showing my Sporran and after the Clan Crest Badge. For the phots,
I just laid the Badge on the Sporran about where I think it would look good.

Thank you Dollander for sharing your photos... It will give me my DIY project for this afternoon once I get back from running errands...

Sporran - Clan Crest 01.jpg

Sporran - Clan Crest 02.jpg

[ThistleDown]

I'm not being critical here, but I don't know why folks want to to do this. A bit of bling I understand, but this festooning with crests on kilts and sporrans, I don't. Again, I'm not criticising; I really would like to know the new world why. It seems to me that a non-military sporran could still be a place for a bit of silver or brass, but as a place to display one's chief's crest (that is, a person acknowledged as 'your' ultimate family patriarch) seems a strange thing. Made especially so if you haven't declared your allegiance to him/her.

[Dollander]

Well, in the case of the badge on my sporran, it really is just a symbol of my heritage. The 10th Duke of Atholl convinced the Lord Lyon to declare that the demi-savage badge, rather than the mermaid, is the one Murrays should wear to show their allegiance to the chief. And while I'm not much of a patriot, I'm still too American to acknowledge the authority of someone who inherited their position rather than being elected to office (or at least appointed by elected officials). So for me, wearing the badge that corresponds with my surname is no different than wearing the tartans of the various clans and nationalities from which I'm descended.

P.S. My sincerest apologies if I'm stepping on anyone's toes, but you wanted to know why, and it's just my nature to give an honest answer.

[Famous Willie]

I'm not being critical here, but I don't know why folks want to to do this. A bit of bling I understand, but this festooning with crests on kilts and sporrans, I don't. Again, I'm not criticising; I really would like to know the new world why. It seems to me that a non-military sporran could still be a place for a bit of silver or brass, but as a place to display one's chief's crest (that is, a person acknowledged as 'your' ultimate family patriarch) seems a strange thing. Made especially so if you haven't declared your allegiance to him/her.

No Criticism taken.. This is why I threw the question out to the Rabble. I was just reading some of the Threads here, I learned that other Members like affixing the Badge to their Sporran. For me it would be a way of wearing it when I didn't want to put on a hat... I've even read in threads that one shouldn't wear the Badge on their hats, as it isn't traditional.

I don't want to appear rude here, but you did bring up Allegiance to the Family Patriarch, for which I don't understand your question. I have said in previous posts I am waiting for my Tartan Kilt to arrive from the Kilt Maker, for which it is the Clan Farquharson, which the Hardie's are a Sept.

My Dad wore a Clan Farquharson Neck tie for which he eventually gave to me when I was a Litttle Boy,, and I know at one time he wore other Clan Farquharson items.. I also remember he saying that if I wore anything tartan to make sure it was Clan Farquharson... I am also a Card Carrying Member of the Clan Farquharson Association of Canada.



Thank you Thistledown for your advice... You just gave me more questions now I need to have answered..

[Famous Willie]

Well, in the case of the badge on my sporran, it really is just a symbol of my heritage. The 10th Duke of Atholl convinced the Lord Lyon to declare that the demi-savage badge, rather than the mermaid, is the one Murrays should wear to show their allegiance to the chief. And while I'm not much of a patriot, I'm still too American to acknowledge the authority of someone who inherited their position rather than being elected to office (or at least appointed by elected officials). So for me, wearing the badge that corresponds with my surname is no different than wearing the tartans of the various clans and nationalities from which I'm descended.

P.S. My sincerest apologies if I'm stepping on anyone's toes, but you wanted to know why, and it's just my nature to give an honest answer.

I know of 4 Tartans on Mum's side that I could wear. The Fraser of Lovat, or maybe the Fraser itself. (her Dad) And this opens up another question. Where Mum is a Fraser of Lovat, does this mean I can or cannot wear the Fraser Tartan?. The Livingstone (her Mum). and the Chisholm and Hunter (Mum's Maternal Great Grandparents on her Grandmother Isabel Chisholm's side, she married Alexander Fraser)..

I guess I opened up another Can of Worms with the Rabble....

[ThistleDown]

I get the heritage part and that's the tartan of your father's family. There really isn't any 'entitlement' to it; it has simply become the traditional way to display who you are. It's not traditional to wear another family's tartan, but tradition in North America certainly does seem to be moving in that direction. Maybe that began as a means of selling more tartan. Multiple tartans as symbols of ancestry isn't a Scottish thing. There were families of Hardies (formerly MacHardy) at Crathie and Crathienard, so the name has become associated with Farquharson, even though there were many other Hardies elsewhere in Scotland at roughly the same time. Your father told you the way it is in Scotland (and in Canada until recently, it seems).

As for the belted crest on the bonnet, certainly this bit of tradition has evolved with increased affluence. In former times most folk in the Highlands couldn't afford the silver, or even pewter, to have one made. The surrounding belt indicates allegiance to the owner of the crest and has nothing to do with heritage. In Highland Scotland the place for a belted crest is on your bonnet, although there are women who wear inherited or gifted ones as brooches. I wonder if this new idea of attaching them to sporrans has come about because the pewter manufacturers were losing trade now that men have set aside the wearing of bonnets? Or maybe a civilian spin on the regimental crest attached to sporrans?

[Jock Scot]

Could it be Rex that there are parts of the New World where there is a militaristic leaning, even when wearing civilian attire? Nothing wrong with that per se, but traditionally not a Highland Scottish way of wearing CIVILIAN kilt attire.

[ThistleDown]

Could be, Jock. That's why the term Traditional Highland CIVILIAN Dress was coined on this forum, of course: to differentiate it from MILITARY or BAND dress or any other uniform. There does seem to be a tendency to merge styles, despite the claims of individuality in some parts. I'm just wondering if the belted crest on the sporran is yet another indicator of this.