My Arms and Heraldic Items

[Nathan]

My arms rendering


Another rendering of my arms with a sideways helm


My heraldic flag






My armiger items with my Highland attire

[Recon1342]

I am completely new to heraldry and symbols of rank in highland dress. Can you please explain the various items and their meanings, i.e. the significance of your arms, what a single feather means, etc.?

I could give you an entire book on the various symbolism and uniform significance for the US Marines, but European heraldry? I haven’t a clue.


Best,

John

[Nathan]

I am completely new to heraldry and symbols of rank in highland dress. Can you please explain the various items and their meanings, i.e. the significance of your arms, what a single feather means, etc.?

I could give you an entire book on the various symbolism and uniform significance for the US Marines, but European heraldry? I haven’t a clue.


Best,

John

Hi John,

There's actually a lot to your question.

My personal arms are based on my chief's arms, but are differenced as I'm an indeterminate cadet of Clanranald.


ARMORIAL BEARINGS OF RANALD ALEXANDER MACDONALD OF CLANRANALD,
24TH CAPTAIN AND CHIEF OF CLANRANALD

Most of the charges on MacDonald arms have symbolic meaning, some of which has been lost to time and is a matter of conjecture. These symbols and the general practice of quartering arms, are common to West Highland heraldry in general, and go beyond Clan Donald.

For a discussion of the symbols as they relate to Clan Donald, you could start here:
https://clandonald-heritage.com/

and here:

https://highcouncilofclandonald.com/...land-heraldry/

Personally, I chose to take a common West Highland symbol (the red hand) and render it as a hamsa as a nod to my Jewish faith. That is also the reason why I replaced the sword on my chief's crest with a shofar or ram's horn. The ram's horn is used on High Holidays.

In terms of the mottos, the bottom one is the Gaelic rendering of the general MacDonald motto "Per Mare Per Terras", which itself is Latin for "By Sea and By Land". An allusion to the naval and infantry power of the Lordship of the Isles.

My personal motto "I will heed the call" speaks to me heeding the call to serve my country in the military, the call to strive for a righteous life, and the call to be a tradition bearer.

In terms of how heraldry works, especially in a Scottish context --i.e., what feathers mean etc...--this document is a good overview:

http://www.scotarmigers.net/pdfs/info-leaflet-2.pdf

[Ninehostages]

Strange.
My family coat of arms has three brass balls on it.

[Nathan]

Strange.
My family coat of arms has three brass balls on it.

Interesting. While Scottish coats of arms belong to individuals, I know the Irish system is more permissive of multiple descendants using the same arms.


I usually see the O’Neill arms depicted with three estoils (wavy 5 pointed stars), the red right hand, two lions rampant, and a salmon in the water.

Can you share an image of the three brass balls one?

[Troglodyte]

I like what you have done to make your arms differenced.

Being based on Scottish clan chief's arms, are you required to have them recorded by Lord Lyon, or do these become Canadian arms in their own right? And are they a result of a petition and a grant of arms under the Canadian system, or from the Lyon court?

I am intrigued by Scottish arms, as they usually take a varied form of the chief's arms if the name is the same - there is an acceptance in Scotland that a shared surname shows familial blood connections, hence the similar arms. It is quite different for English arms, unless directly related by descent.

Some years ago, Clan Munro magazine published a detailed list of grants of arms to those of the clan, together with illustrations and reasons for the differences, like you have mentioned for your own, and all given in heraldic terms. They were all clearly recognisable as Munro, but all also equally distinct in detail, and showing the bearers as armigerous clansmen.

If there is something similar for Clan Donald, it would be fascinating to see all the arms illustrated together for camparison.

[Kriegbert]

My arms rendering


Another rendering of my arms with a sideways helm


My heraldic flag






My armiger items with my Highland attire

If I can offer advice about the standard you have, it looks much better if you can get it woven as opposed to printed. Likewise, the fringe you have appears to be nylon, but synthetic gold looks much better!

[Nathan]

If I can offer advice about the standard you have, it looks much better if you can get it woven as opposed to printed. Likewise, the fringe you have appears to be nylon, but synthetic gold looks much better!

That option costs significantly more. I’m quite happy with what I have for now.