Yet another "Clan Question"

[gilmore]

...There will, undoubtedly be pedants (as opposed to traditionalists) who will tell you to find out which part of Scotland your Nevin ancestors hailed from, and then join the clan (Cumin, MacKintosh, MacNaughton) that is in that area. My advice would be not to worry about it-- in the 19th and 20th century the Scots moved all over the place and clan "loyalties" changed dramatically. Today clan membership is about celebrating Scottish culture, and you can do this as well as a MacNaughton as you can a Cumin or MacKintosh. ....

To me which tartan to wear is more about which clan my ancestors were in. It's about family, being children (clann) of the same people. And here in the American South, though my ancestors left Scotland over 250 years ago, relatives and family still matter. (E.g., just before I logged on here, I was on the phone discussing family matters with a second cousin once removed who lives not too far in a part of Georgia where we have lived since the 1790's. Our most recent common ancestors were his great great grandparents who died some 80 and over 100 years ago, but we are still very much family.)

I find cousins quite interesting people. We may not have a lot in common, but we go through life together, through the same passages at the same times, dealing with the same issues in different ways.

To me it's not about pedantry (though one should make informed and not capricious decisions about these things) nor about tradition (which changes and evolves) as much as it is about clan, extended family, relatives, one's people, who one is, and who one's ancestors were. These ties have to be maintained and nutured, through the many interactions that we engage in with other, and through having something emblematic of our relationship, like a tartan.