Another question about clans--adopted children

[Riverkilt]

For Sure! My cousin did the DNA thing and it came back Scandanavian and he called confused, he thought we were Scots! Told him we were Viking raiders before we were Scots...Sons of Somerled.

[ThistleDown]

Ron, actually there were Scots in Scotland before the Viking raping and pillaging era. In fact, most of the Scandanavian bloodline injected into the country came in through peaceful settling both before and after that period. Scotland is the epitome of multi-origin.

[Riverkilt]

Hey thanks. Edited my post. Didn't mean we were in Scotland before the Scots...meant that we were Scandanavians before "moving" to Scotland.

[ThistleDown]

Aye, may be...but he sure wasn't happy with me wearing kilts to work as part of my identity.

Now that's sad, for sure. In the Great White North I've worn a shemagh for years. Last year in the lobby of a Seattle hotel I was approached by a brown-skinned chap who pointed at it and with a snear said "The last time I saw one of those things I shot it". He then turned around and walked away, leaving me at first a little dumb-struck and then a bit sad for him.

[TheOfficialBren]

That reminds me of a story, Rex and Ron.

I was 16-years-old when 9/11 happened. There was a Sikh boy at my high school. We shall call him Singh for the purpose of anonymity. He was devoted to his heritage and an upright and admirable boy. He wore his turban proudly and looked smashing doing so. One could sense his pride for his cultural heritage.

On the morning of 11 September, Singh did not come to school. He was not there the following day. Singh did not come to school for a whole week.

It was terribly sad that he stayed home. I went to a school where few of the students had any experience with foreigners. My high school was in a smaller city than Los Angeles. Diversity was the exception rather than the norm.

[Mike_Oettle]

I had an adopted brother (sadly, he died some years ago). As a child he was always told that he was adopted, but that my parents loved him as if he were their own child.
Oddly, he looked a lot like my baby brother and me, and at school we would be asked: “He’s your adopted brother, right? Then how come he looks so much like you?”
When he turned 21 he was told where he came from: his natural parents were my father’s sister and her husband.
He was aware of my interest in heraldry, and wanted to have a copy carved of the family coat of arms. He consulted me about it and I told him that he had a choice between bearing arms as an Oettle or as a member of his natural father’s family. He definitely wanted to belong to my family, so I showed him how his arms could be adapted to be uniquely his.
I hope to have my family tartan woven this year, and his son (who married at the beginning of the year) will receive an item in that tartan.
Regards,
Mike

[GrainReaper]

My 19 month old son is adopted, I have been his father and my wife his mother from the day he was born, we were there for his birth, and as far as I am concerned, he is family as much as any blood relative, the question of adoption is not an issue, should he want to wear my family tartan he is welcome to, and God forbid anyone claim he is not "worthy" because he is adopted, he is my son so he is afforded every right afforded me.

Should he decide he does not want to consider himself a proud mutt of Scot, Irish, and German decent like his old man, well he can track down his own biological ancestors! Won't do him much good though, biologically he is just like me, Scot, Irish, and German...

[O'Callaghan]

That whole color-scheme thing rang a bell and I was pretty sure it had to do with ancient Irish society from before the Gaelic colonization of Scotland; so I did a little looking around, and:

And as for green being the Irish national colour (don't know how to make your quote appear here), AFAIK it came from the rebellion of 1798, when they asked for help from the French, who sent a high ranking officer accompanied by aides who brought no weapons or ammunition, but handed out green cockades (like half a rosette) for the Irish rebels to wear in their hats. The story goes that when those ran out they resorted to wearing shamrocks.

You will hear it said that green has something to do with St Patrick, but only if you link (or mix up?) the above story with the one that says St Patrick used the leaves of the shamrock to teach the trinity. There is also a tradition of characters dressed as St Patrick in parades wearing blue, not green, although why blue I have no idea.

ETA: Perhaps the idea that green is "St Patrick's colour" is lifted from the lyrics of Napper Tandy (aka the Wearing of the Green), possibly put there to make it rhyme?

[Wil]

This is a very intresting topic. Is the childerens name a Sept of your cousins? I tend to agree with the servant concept of taking on the name.
My 2 younger boys are from my wifes first marriage but the kids last name is a sept of my familys (McFarland) so they are used to the tartan already.

[freddie]

It's a persons name that dictates the tartan they are 'entitled' to wear, so if the adopted person has that family name then that's the one they should wear. That's the 'official' view on the matter. However, I like many others on this forum find this view too rigid. I was adopted and wear tartans pertaining to both my adopted family and that of my birth Father. However I don't wear his tartan if I attend a function with my adopted family. Although I loved my adopted parents and will always regard them as my only 'Mum and Dad' I am still extremely proud of my bloodline. When I first visited the ruins of the old family castle in Scotland I was overcome with emotion. I don't know where the feelings came from but whoever said that blood was thicker than water was certainly right.