Clan regalia with National tartan

[Troy]

Not to throw a "monkey wrench" in here, but unless you are actually a member of Clan Home, you shouldn't wear their distinguishing badges. If you are, have at 'er. Wear them all.

Sorry, should have been more specific - the Rutherfords are a sept of Clan Home, therefore I'm entitled to wear their distinguishing emblems.

Regards,

Troy

[ronstew]

As I understand it, your clan comes from your father, not your mother.

Having looked at dicussions such as this for the past several months, I have come to the opinion that if you are wearing emblems of a clan whose chief has made decrees concerning those emblems, you should follow the wishes of the clan chief. Otherwise, you should do what seems right and respectful, and what looks good.

[Troy]

As I understand it, your clan comes from your father, not your mother.

Having looked at dicussions such as this for the past several months, I have come to the opinion that if you are wearing emblems of a clan whose chief has made decrees concerning those emblems, you should follow the wishes of the clan chief. Otherwise, you should do what seems right and respectful, and what looks good.

I thonk you're right, Ron, in saying that Clan 'membership' is traditionally regarded as being passed through the paternal line. Having said that, though, I have also heard that in these enlightened times it is acceptable to claim 'membership' via the maternal line, paticularly if one's father has no Clan affiliation.

I have also heard that wearing the badge of a particular Clan actually signifies your allegiance to that Clan, whether or not you actually have a blood-tie to it.

(Many people maintain, of course, that the same convention applies to tartans, but that subject has been covered in detail on this forum before)

I guess the best course of action to take would be to seek the advice of the Clan Chief before donning any of the Clan's distinguishing marks.

Cheers,

troy

[Riverkilt]

Don't much care for what the "rules" or tartan police say...or even how it was in the old days.

I honor my clans on my mother's side of the family because their blood (okay genes) is my blood, just as my father's clans are.

My next tank will be in the Scott tartan, my mother's middle name, her mother's maiden name, that came down through a lineage of men I'm proud of. A 4 great grandfather Scott was given land for his service in the War of 1812. My sister, a college professor, is writing a book about our grandmother Rose Emily Scott who was a South Dakota and Montana pioneer.

My maternal clans include the Scotts (yes I know they were border people), and Frasers. They also include Doyles from Ireland and Lewis' from Wales.

Funny how culture is. Here in Navajoland the Navajo clans are controled by the women, not the men....

I'm honoring both sides of my family. Wouldn't be here without both of them.

Ron

[David Dalglish]

I believe that you can honour either side of your family, but my opinion is that you can wear what you like, If you want to wear Rutherford regalia, then do so, & wear it with pride

[M. A. C. Newsome]

The basic underlying question here is, "Is it appropriate to wear the badge of one clan, while wearing a different tartan?" The answer is that it is fine. I know folls who do it all the time. I do it myself. There are no rules about this -- it boils down to what you feel like wearing.

I think wearing your Cornish National kilt with you Clan Home crest is a fine way to honor both aspects of your heritage.

[Jerry]

I am a McNeill, a name variation of Macneil, and have been a member of Clan Macneil. My mother was a gordon. I have a gordon kilt and I am currently a House of Gordon member. The current Gordon chief is fine with my connection to Gordon being from my mother's family.

[freddie]

I'm a Hume (Home is the same) and have kilts in my clan colours (blue) as well as a Royal Stewart variant (red) and MacDonald of The Isles (green). The Royal Stewart is of course a 'universal' tartan, just as Cornish is a 'district' tartan, and I would still wear my clan crest (bonnet badge and belt buckle) with this kilt. However I wear my MacDonald kilt for my mother's side of the family, but would never dream of wearing Hume clan badges with it (not least of all because the Humes of Polworth were allied to the Campbells ! ). I also wouldn't wear a MacDonald badge as I would be wearing my kilt for sentimental reasons and not because I claim to be a member of the MacDonald clan. However the MacDonald of The Isles tartan is an old military one (very similar to MacKenzie) and according to 'The Register of all Publically known Tartans' has never been considered a clan tartan. Historically clan crests seem to be more important than tartan anyway, as prior to the 19th century clansmen seemed to wear what ever tartan they fancied. There is the story of the wounded Campbell about to be bayoneted by a Hanovarian trooper on the field of Culloden who didn't recognise him as friendly because his bonnet had fallen off (he was wearing a plant badge rather than (or as well as) a clan crest). It is argued that if he was wearing a kilt in the Campbell clan tartan then the trooper wouldn't have made the mistake. Of course shortly after this date most Highland British soldiers wore the old Campbell 'Black Watch' tartan as uniform anyway.
Posted by Cajunscot: 'By the way, the Rutherfords and the Homes were Borders families. Many a border family has adopted kilts and tartan, although the original border reivers did not wear them -- I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, just that it's relatively new for Borderers and Lowlanders to wear the kilt.'
Although it is true to say that the Humes were Borderers, there was a branch in the Highlands, the Humes of Argaty, who took their lands near Dunblane when a son of the Laird of Wedderburn married the daughter of Schaw of Sauchie. In his book 'A system of Heraldry' written during the mid 18th century Alexander Nisbet lists the lowland Humes as 'Hume of this' or Home of that' - but refers to the 'Humes' of Argaty:indicating to me that they lived as a true Highland clan, with their chief being 'a first among equals' rather than a feudal lord.