A Modern Scottish View of Clans (and Gathering)

[macwilkin]

I'm very proud to be a Gordon, but I will not join the Clan Gordon society. Why should I? I go to the Highland Games and various Scottish events every year and hang out with my fellow clansmen, so why should I pay to get a card that says I'm a Gordon and tell me to go events that I already attend? I know I'm linked to the House of Gordon, what more needs to be done?

Have you researched what membership dues in the society are used for, and what benefits members received? Remember that many clan societies use dues to not only "keep the lights on" as it were, but to fund genealogical research databases, clan museums and donate funds to charitable causes and to historic preservation. For example, the House of Gordon USA donates funds to the Gordon Highlanders Museum in Aberdeen (a very worthy cause) and also provides a scholarship fund to youth studying Scottish arts -- just think, if you had been a member, you might have qualified for it, and I don't know of any college students who would turn down a scholarship.

Our clan society, for example, helps sponsor a pipe band in Aberdeen, including their youth pipe band. I'm proud of the role we're playing (pun intended) in keeping piping alive in Scotland.

As far as the Chief, I am a product of Clearances emigrants, but I don't hold it against Lord Huntly. In fact, I think it would be kinda neat to meet the Chief.

Also, I love to Romanticize Scotland, but I don't pretend like that is what happened. Sure, it's fun to think about the Jacobite Rebellion as a fight between the English and the Scots, but I'd be a damn fool if I pretended like that was AT ALL true. Just like it's more entertaining and dramatic to think of my ancestors being driven from their ancestral homeland from the evil Whoevers during the Clearances, but I know that in reality it was Gordon who removed them for land. Does this mean I'll renounce my ties with the House of Gordon? No way! It's a part of my heritage, and while I'm not about to join the Society and fly to Scotland for the Gathering, I'll proudly wear the Gordon tartan, play Cock O' The North on my pipes, and have a great time at the Gordon tent at the Highland Games every year.

Don't forget, that tent you hang-out at at the games each year doesn't pay for itself. While some larger clan societies are able to reimburse their convenors for expenses, the smaller clans certainly can't. I would bet your local Gordon rep. has spent anywhere from $500-1000 on his display to attract other Gordons and to educate them about their heritage; kinda makes $25 in yearly dues pale in comparison, eh?

And do you help out at the tent, or do you just hang out? I bet they could use you -- heck, you could even pipe at the tent to attract folks -- perhaps you could trade a yearly membership out of the deal.

Regards,

Todd