Another question about clans--adopted children

[Laird_M]

My eldest is from my wife's first marriage and he has fully embraced his adopted heritage.

As JS and Cessna point out, its quite acceptable.

Historically bondsmen and vassals and those 'fostered' by another Clan often wore a tartan of the Clan they joined. And as Chas so succintly points out, it shouldn't ever be made an issue. Shehan is a member of our Clan, so will wear MacLeod tartan with pride.

Originally, the Scottish Tartan was a distinction of rank or position. It was not identified by weave but by the number of colours in the weave. If only one colour was used it depicted a servant, two, a farmer rank, three, an officer rank, five, a chieftain, six for a poet, and seven for a Chief. Eventually, clans or families adopted their own tartan, using a range of animal and earth colours which were frequently secret, only known to the weavers of the islands. They included yellows, blues, whites, greens, browns, reds, black and purple. Some say that a keen eye can identify the colour with a particular island, almost like a wine taster can identify the year and the vineyard. Obviously this restriction is not followed these days, and most tartans are just 'ancient', 'hunting' etc., so there is no reason why he can't wear his adopted clan's tartan.