Feathers in your cap

[creagdhubh]

Wasn't that debunked some time ago? As I recall (and I could be wrong, of course), plant badges didn't really come into vogue until well after the idea of "clan tartans", at which point the small sprigs would have been superfluous for identification. And even if they did pre-date clan-specific tartans, they seem like a really poor means of quick identification. I can't see Highlanders of the 18th century or earlier running around checking each others' bonnets up close before deciding whether they be friend or foe.

I wonder if the entire "plant badge" idea is simply legend or folklore.

Tobus,

Although your statement may be true for other Highland clans and possibly for Lowland families (I obviously cannot speak for them!), it is not for the Clan Macpherson. I can speak for the Clan Macpherson in saying that according to clan historians, and to our current Chief, Sir William Alan Macpherson of Cluny and Blairgowrie, T.D.; the leading tribes of the Macphersons to include the Invereshies (the slioch'd, or race of which I am directly descended), Pitmains, Macphersons of Cluny, and Glentruims and their cadet (associated) families, have always used white heather, boxwood, or red whortleberry as their plant badge (white heather was the preferred plant species, as it is considered to be lucky and is somewhat difficult to locate amongst the more common purple variety) - long before the Scottish Revival during the early 19th-century, when tartans became fashionable and 'identified' individual Highland clans and Lowland families (much thanks to Sir Walter Scott, et al).

The Macphersons would often affix sprigs of white heather to their spears, pikes, axes, swords, targes, and other weaponry of the time period, as sort of a talisman, or a 'good luck charm,' along with being a means of immediate clan/tribal identification in and around the area of upper and lower Badenoch (the Macphersons migrated to Badenoch - meaning 'marshy' in Scottish Gaelic - from Lochaber during the early 13th-century).

Throughout the centuries and to the present day, white heather became the official plant badge of choice for all Macpherson clansmen and clanswomen loyal to their Chief. Today, it is widely worn in bonnets and on jacket lapels by Cluny and members of the Clan Macpherson at various clan gatherings and rallies in Badenoch. I have also seen massive sprays of fresh white heather gathered into wreaths and placed on a multitude of doors at Cluny's residence, Newton Castle in Blairgowire, Perthshire.

Cheers,