Eagle feather thread

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

I don't mean to sound stupid, ill-informed, insensitive, or inflammatory but why must eagle feathers be the symbol of status?

One has to remember that, for the Highland Scots, the wearing of eagle feathers reaches back to pre-Christian times when certain animals (Stag, Salmon, Eagle, Boar, etc.) were objects of religious veneration. This animal "worship" came to be codified, with restrictions on who could kill them, and who could eat their flesh, or wear their skins. (Most of this is spelled out in the Brehon Laws for anyone interested in knowing more.)

With the passage of time, and the introduction of Christianity, most of the old pagan prohibitions fell by the wayside, only to be replaced by the Roman concept of laws-- who could kill a deer, hunt a boar, kill a salmon, or capture an eagle. To rob an eagle's nest was considered a feat of real bravery in ancient Scotland, involving as it did climbing to some craggy precipice and fending off a powerful bird ferociously defending the nest. Proof of that deed was a feather, worn in the cap.

Now, as only the bravest wore the eagle feather they became marked out as warrior-leaders, the feather becoming the symbol of the warrior who led others into battle. In time, long after the original significance of the eagle feather had faded from memory, it still remained the badge of a leader of men.

As the clan system developed with Chiefs, Chieftains, and what I will call "Gentlemen" to simplify things, the right to wear feathers became based on one's ability to call out armed men in time of need. In other words, the feathers indicated military command, and a structure that emanated from the Chief with three feathers, the Chieftains and Barons with two feathers, and the Gentlemen with one feather, all of whom were followed by the clan "army" called out to defend their glen. The feathers, being tall, enabled the leaders to be singled out on the field of battle.

By the time the military aspect of the clan had waned in the 18th century, the wearing of feathers was an ingrained part of Highland society. One could tell at a glance who the natural, ancient leaders were by the feathers in their bonnet. The king could make a rich man a lord, but unless that man was "of the blood and of the land" he had no "tribal" standing in the neighborhood.

In modern times (like right now) feathers are worn as an heraldic right-- in the same way that displaying one's coat of arms on a flag is an heraldic right-- and to identify, in a crowd (which isn't necessarily that far removed from a battlefield) the leaders of a clan.

In simple terms the eagle feathers, which have been worn in the Highlands for more than a thousand years, merely identify who's in charge. And beyond a familial or clan context they have no real meaning, although they are certainly recognized and understood by those who care about such things.