State Crest Badge

[Zardoz]

I don't know how it works in other places, but in Texas our 'State Seal of Texas' (which is based on our former 'Great Seal of the Republic of Texas') belongs to the people of Texas. http://www.lsjunction.com/seal.htm

It is controlled by the The Office of the Secretary of State for the people. While private use of the State seal, including the state arms, is regulated by law, the seal may be used for commercial purposes like on jewelry, clothing etc., if a license is obtained from the Secretary of State and royalties are paid to the State. So someone could certainly make and sell kilt or bonnet pins with our State Seal if they did all the paperwork and paid us! Which is likely why Glen Esk's Texas kilt pin looks like this;


Which is still cool, because you can scratch that shape in the dirt in a central American jungle and the locals will say "Texas"

[Whidbey78]

Which is still cool, because you can scratch that shape in the dirt in a central American jungle and the locals will say "Texas"

I think the idea of a cap badge showing one's home state is a nice idea, but I'll pass for now since I'm far from my home state and would tire of explaining why I have a Washington pin. Apparently it shocks Nebraskans that people can be, and often are, from other places.**No offense to Nebraskans intended--they are good people, and my Mother is a very proud native Husker**

One problem with state outlines (beside being from Wyoming or Colorado) is that, with the exception of Texas, a lot of people out there can't identify states by shape. Many people, sadly, can't find their own state on a map, and recognizing another is simply too much to ask. I would get tired of having people ask me what "that shape" is.

That's why I scraped this off the back window of my truck a few months after moving here from The Sound:


People not recognizing the state was bad enough...but try living in the Nebraska Sandhills with a dive sticker on your truck. Nobody had the slightest clue what this means and I got sick of explaining it. Worse yet, one of the last people who asked me about it knew what the flag was, because he was also a diver, but didn't know the state, even though he said he was from Portland...right across the &*%$ river from Vancouver, WA! It drove me NUTS!

But, to each his own. Wear yours with pride. I won't be the guy asking you what it is.

[AKScott]

I have faced this recently and I think y'all are headed in the same direction I chose.

On the one hand, I could wear a legitimate clan Scott badge. If I did most Americans wouldn't know any better and I suspect the actual Scottish folks here would over look it as misguided enthusiasm.

In point of fact the banded and buckled badge is a heraldic badge of submission. I do not live in Scotland, I am an American. I can trace my Scot/ Scott/ Scotte line back to one of three guys named Harry Scot born in Lancashire PA during 1750. I don't know which of those three was my great- great-x-great grandfather, and I don't know what his political views were as a 26 year old.

If the Duke launches a public appeal on CNN tomorrow to save the ancestral castle I'll probably send in a few bucks, and I am going to wear the tartan with pride; but I am not going to wear a badge I don't believe in and disrespect my cousins at home in the process.

So here we are. For the plaid brooch at my wedding I am going to home cast a snowflake in poor man's pewter using the lost wax process in plaster of Paris. It is going to look good, it will be respectful of those who really are loyal to the Duke, it will be apropriate. I do live in Alaska. We got a few snowflakes around.

The human requisite of belonging to a larger group is one of the conundrums atributable directly to our national sense of individualism.

State flower I think is a terrific choice. Organic, pretty, inoffensive to those who really are loyal to whichever aristocrat. State outline, great.

A bird you really like that is native to the area you call home I think is great. Cardinal, Eagle, whatever.

Recognizable fauna, perfect. Road runner, armadillo, a salmon with its mouth all puckered up by freshwater, various fish, awesome.



I am somewhat troubled by college emblems. I happen to be an alum of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I hate Duke basketball so much I want you to hate them too; but that is hardly a sentiment to carry into a pub at my age. Are you a fan of Alabama football, or a graduate of UA? If you are a graduate and there is nothing else you feel more strongly about I guess you should wear that badge, but you might be "that guy" everyone is talking about.

Next time you see someone wearing some Tar Heel gear, ask them when they graduated...the folks who only wear the colors on Duke game days can look you in the eye and answer the question.



If you served, I don't have a problem with a fouled anchor, crossed muskets and so on. Crossed cannon, Budweiser emblem, it's all good.

My point is as Americans badges and kilt pins are an area where we have a legitimate freedom for self expression, but with that freedom comes the responsibility to express ourselves respectfully.

[macwilkin]

In point of fact the banded and buckled badge is a heraldic badge of submission. I do not live in Scotland, I am an American. I can trace my Scot/ Scott/ Scotte line back to one of three guys named Harry Scot born in Lancashire PA during 1750. I don't know which of those three was my great- great-x-great grandfather, and I don't know what his political views were as a 26 year old.

If the Duke launches a public appeal on CNN tomorrow to save the ancestral castle I'll probably send in a few bucks, and I am going to wear the tartan with pride; but I am not going to wear a badge I don't believe in and disrespect my cousins at home in the process.

This American citizen does not share your opinions on this subject, sir. Our first President, George Washington, was an armiger and saw nothing wrong with the customs of heraldry and the American Republic. If the General had no issues with it, then neither do I.

Tartans also symbolize clans, and by your logic, are a symbol of "submission" as well. You can't reject one symbol and keep another.

Respectfully,

T.

[BoldHighlander]

This American citizen does not share your opinions on this subject, sir. Our first President, George Washington, was an armiger and saw nothing wrong with the customs of heraldry and the American Republic. If the General had no issues with it, then neither do I.

Tartans also symbolize clans, and by your logic, are a symbol of "submission" as well. You can't reject one symbol and keep another.

Respectfully,

T.

***

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

In point of fact the banded and buckled badge is a heraldic badge of submission.

Perhaps I am misinterpreting what you have written.

As I take it, you are suggesting that by wearing a strap and buckle badge one is placed in a submissive, or servile position vis-a-vis their clan chief. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In strictly heraldic terms, which is how these badges must be viewed and interpreted, the wearing of a strap and buckle clan badge distinguishes one as a representative of his chief, not his serf. Within the context of the tribal culture of the Highlands all members of a clan are considered as being equally related to one another, including being related to their chief, as they all descend from the same, common ancestor. The purpose of the strap and buckle badge in both a clan and heraldic context recognizes this relationship, nothing more.

That said, those who have a surname in common with a recognized clan, who do not wear the strap and buckle "clan badge", are making the rather public statement that they are not part of that clan. They may bear the surname, and wear the tartan of "Clan X" but despite any assertion to the contrary, they aren't part of that clan. Now as unfair or cruel as this may sound, the simple fact of the matter is this: clan membership is based on descent from a common ancestor. To be recognized and accepted as a member of this hugely extended family one must wear the "family" or "clan" badge.

To better understand the societal structure of the clan, and the relationship of clanfolk to their chief, I'd recommend Professor Allan Macinnes article "Clanship: A Historical Perspective" in The Scottish Clan & Family Encyclopedia by George Way of Plean and Romilly Squire (now of Rubislaw).

Far from being a mark of submission, the wearing of a strap and buckle badge is the exclusive privilege of a clansman.

[Burly Brute]

Considering that the Saguaro blossom is the state flower of Arizona, I'm not sure why it is "something dumb". Using the state flower as a kilt pin or a plant badge is a novel idea; Matt has a Dogwood badge on his Carolina kilt, for example.

Another possibility might be if your state had an issue badge for its regiments in the Civil War; I wear a reproduction badge for Iowa regiments as a kilt pin on my Iowa tartan.

I know the Minnesota St. Andrew's Society has developed their own distinct cap badge, on the same lines as the Wisconsin Scottish badge.

T.

I guess my many years of hunting and fishing out here and picking cacti out of my appendages makes me not be the biggest cactus enthusiast. Maybe our state bird would be a better choice. I guess it’s completely a personal thing, wearing to much floral makes me feel a bit too much like a dandy.

[macwilkin]

I guess my many years of hunting and fishing out here and picking cacti out of my appendages makes me not be the biggest cactus enthusiast. Maybe our state bird would be a better choice. I guess it’s completely a personal thing, wearing to much floral makes me feel a bit too much like a dandy.

Believe me, I have had a few run-ins with cacti in my day, but I still love seeing them -- and in the summer, I always threaten to rip out our yards and replace them with cacti of all kinds, rocks, whisky barrels, etc.

T.

[AKScott]

Perhaps I am misinterpreting what you have written.

...

That said, those who have a surname in common with a recognized clan, who do not wear the strap and buckle "clan badge", are making the rather public statement that they are not part of that clan. They may bear the surname, and wear the tartan of "Clan X" but despite any assertion to the contrary, they aren't part of that clan. Now as unfair or cruel as this may sound, the simple fact of the matter is this: clan membership is based on descent from a common ancestor. To be recognized and accepted as a member of this hugely extended family one must wear the "family" or "clan" badge.

...

Far from being a mark of submission, the wearing of a strap and buckle badge is the exclusive privilege of a clansman.

MacMillan of Rathdown, and others who know more about this than me,

Thanks for checking in. This is a subject where I am feeling my way as best I can.

My ultimate goal is to wear my family tartan in a way that is both respectful to my genetic heritage and respectful to my living relatives who really are clanspeople, including the Duke of Buccleuch.

What I hear you saying is wearing the buckled clan badge is more or less my birthright, but to me it seems that wearing that badge as the representative of someone I have never met would be just as unlikely as (ultimately) putting as asterisk next to my US citizenship.

I am aparently grasping this issue by the wrong handle. I will now search for old threads about what it means for an American to belong to a clan.

Thank you for having been gentle.

[macwilkin]

What I hear you saying is wearing the buckled clan badge is more or less my birthright, but to me it seems that wearing that badge as the representative of someone I have never met would be just as unlikely as (ultimately) putting as asterisk next to my US citizenship.

But again, the same could be said for the tartan you choose, especially if that tartan is recgonized, officially or de facto, by the chief of your clan. Methinks you're worrying about this far too much. Rathdown's post pretty much sums it up: the clansman's badge is worn by clansmen (and women nowadays) to show their "allegiance" (very much symbolic these days; I've never recieved the firey cross from my chief!) to their particular clan by wearing the crest of the chief. At no time do I feel that I have compromised my American citizenship by doing so, and in point of fact, a number of my Scottish ancestors proudly served this country both as members of the armed forces and civil servants, myself included in the latter.

T.