Clan & Regimental Tartans.

[Jerry]

Although I tend to stay with tartans to which my family has a connection, I made some interesting discoveries while I was checking out my family to discover which tartan I could wear. When I first decided to buy a kilt, I was told by a kilt vendor at a Celtic festival that my family was not only an accepted sept of clan Macneil, it was also just a spelling variation of the clan name. I decided to check this out for myself, because I didn't wish to offend anyone. After all, the vendor might have just been trying to sell me a kilt. After a bit of research, I found the email address of Ian Roderick Macneil, the current Clan Macneil cheif. I sent him a message asking if my family was indeed a sept and if I could wear the Macneil tartan. His reply surprised me. First of all, my family is a sept, andI could wear the tartan. But then he added that I did not have to have a connection to the clan to wear the tartan, and that anyone could join the clan as long as they supported the ideals and the cheif of the clan. I got a similar answer from The House of Gordon, which is my middle name and the surname of my mother's family. Several other clans had similar responses. So it seems that the clans themselves for the most part don't care who wears their tartans.

[jfellrath]

So it seems that the clans themselves for the most part don't care who wears their tartans.

I get that impression, too, Jerry. I think it's much like various Native American tribes not caring if colleges use their tribal names as mascots - in many cases, they're honored that someone wants to call attention to their bravery and manliness in such competition.

I have a friend who went to Miami University (Ohio), and apparently the chief of the Miami nation would come up to Oxford each year and at halftime, perform a ceremony that would give the Miami name back to the school. And this was a team that was called the "Redskins" at the time. The PC hounds at the school have since changed the mascot, but they're obviously still Miami U.

Duck... I'm getting off topic... ;)