More on Septs

[MacSpadger]

How do you suppose people are being taken advantage of?

I can't really speak for the "tartan tat" shops of Edinburgh, as that is the Deep South to me and I have never actually visited them, but in shops in Inverness and Aberdeen and even more so at market stalls in places like Ballater and Braemar, I have seen and heard American and Canadian tourists approach vendors and say, "I'd love to buy a kilt, but I don't have any Scottish connections, my name is -----------------------". I have then heard names given that have been Germanic and even Jewish, but the vendor has used his or her "knowledge" of septs to convince then that they must have some Scottish blood, eg, the name Jung being given and the family being told that it's a version of Young, which is a Scottish name, so they are entitled to wear the Young tartan. I have seen an entire family spend more on tartan in 5 minutes than the average Scot earns in 6 months on hearing this kind of guff. I have seen a Jewish fellah quite delighted on hearing that his clan tartan was Royal Stewart, (funny, that seems to be a favourite). A lot of these tartan vendors are not "canny Scots making a living in a harsh environment" either, round Ballater they are quite likely to be English or Polish so no stereotyping here. If that's not people being taken advantage of, Ah dinnae' ken fit' wid' be, so to speak.

Have you come to a conclusion about what your main clan or sept really is?

If anything I have come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter.

Actual "Clan" names with associated tartans that I have direct lineage from include Barclay, Baxter, Bisset, Blair, Fraser, Henderson, MacCauley, M’Grigor (MacGregor), MacMillan, Morrison, Robertson and Scott. I have been exact in all these, no approximations. Which to choose, if any?

If I was to look at the kind of list found online or in Scottish gift shops, otherwise known as Tourist Traps, "Sept" names include Angus, sept of the Clan MacInnes, Allen, sept of the Clan MacFarlane, (how? ), Bain, sept of the Clan MacKay, Cheyne, sept of the Clan Cumming, Fenton, sept of the Clan Chisholm, Fowlie, possibly a sept of Clan Munro, Gill, sept of the Clan MacDonald, (Whuzat???), Laing, Sept of Clan Gordon or MacDonald MacCaig, sept of Clan MacLeod, Paul, (Surname of G-G-G-G Grandmother from Isle of Mull) given variously as septs of Cameron, MacIntosh, MacKay, and another Mull name, Philip, given as a sept of MacDonnell of Keppoch.

Out of all these, I think Philip as a sept of MacDonnell of Keppoch is pushing it the most, unless Philip of Macedonia really was a Mull man.

20th century tradition seems to dictate that any clan inheritance is passed through the male line. Again, looking at history, that's not the way the actual Gaels handled it. Surnames changed on a generational basis, people became part of clan systems but kept their own surnames, others changed their surnames. Even the famous/infamous Raibeart Ruadh/Rob Roy MacGregor changed his surname to that of his mother, Margaret Campbell. Nothing is written in stone, but some seem to live in hope that it is, if it means a sense of belonging. Unfortunately it can be only too easy to make money from the hopes of other's.

That's where it differentiates from harmless fun, some will be willing to believe anything if it fits in with how they perceive themselves. I'll leave this topic now with a link to a videoclip from an old TV prog I used to watch that puts the point across. It's uncomfortably close to what it was like growing up living with my Dad, but still pertinent to this thread.