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,

[creagdhubh]

No more absurd than people today paying to advertise for companies by wearing clothes with commerical logos Trust me, as a historian, I've seen quite a few things that look absurd to the modern eye.

The story of cockade colours is documented, so why is it not absurd and plant badges are? In other words, the puir Campbell who was about to be run through by redcoat bayonets at Drumossie Moor had the same problem you described -- Thomas Atkins hadn't gotten the word that "our Highlanders" wore red saltires or what not -- military history is filled with such errors, such as "my" battlefield, where uniform colours had not been standardised in early 1861. At one point, half of the Union Army was routed because a Louisiana regiment was reportedly mistaken for an Iowa one -- both units had companies wearing gray.

Remember that the Jacobite Rebellions were an exception to the rule of clan warfare, where neither side was wearing uniforms.

T.

Well said Todd!!!

[creagdhubh]

Points taken, especially the last one. Again, I'm not necessarily saying your dead wrong; on the contrary. I think you've made some valid points in your arguments. I'm just offering a viewpoint based on other periods in military history, and having a wee bit of fun discussing it. Unfortunately, these sorts of discussions just seem to go better over a pint or a dram, and not necessarily online. int:

T.

Quite so! I have enjoyed reading your 'back and forth', Todd and Tobus, and well done to both of you for being ever so cordial, tactful, educated, and professional in your discussion. Both of you raised superb points and arguments. A fantastic example of the forum at its best.

Cheers gentlemen!

[warrior]

Here in the states the mere possession of raptor feathers without proper paperwork is a federal offense, so the question of eagle feathers is a moot point. I would think that the use of other feathers would lie in one's assumed intent. If one were to take a wild turkey tail or primary feather or feathers and fix them one's clan badge in such a way that they stood upright and vertical I would assume upon seeing it that the wearer was attempting to simulate at best or indicate at worst that the wearers was a chief/chietan/armiger as the case may be. If on the other hand the feather(s) were worn woven into a hair braid or at the rear or in such a fashion as worn by a native american, assuming the viewer can recognize it as such, then I would see it as such. Small songbird or body feathers worn behind the badge to most observers ought to he viewed as innocuously as a hackle or other such adornment.
Personally I occasionally will wear either a wild turkey breast feather in my cap (not with my bonnet yet) when among fellow turkey hunters or the tail feathers of the flicker to denote my birth in the state of Alabama.

[gordontaos]

I sometimes wear a single tall (Golden) eagle feather (gifted to me by another Clan Macpherson armiger whilst in Scotland) in my Balmoral bonnet, as I am indeed armigerous, however, I do not do this every time I am wearing Highland dress, specifically, Highland day attire and outdoors wearing a bonnet. I tend to only wear my single tall feather at several events in Scotland, to include the annual Clan Macpherson gathering and rally in the summertime in Badenoch, to Cluny's luncheon the Wednesday after the gathering and rally, at Newton Castle in Blairgowrie, and perhaps to other Highland games throughout Scotland that I may choose to partake in.

The majority of the time, a simple clansman's badge or armiger badge (circlet with our without a metal feather) will do. I have never worn the single tall feather in the US, as there aren't many events where I see it as being appropriate. I simply wear only my bonnet badge.

Cheers,

I'm glad that you only wear that eagle feather in Scotland, and that you also keep it there. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals clearly ruled that eagle feathers may only be posessed by Native Americans who are using them for religious purposes.

Cheers

[creagdhubh]

Gordon,

I never mentioned where I actually store my Golden eagle feather, however, like I stated previously, I do not wear it in the US. If there should be a time and occasion in which the wearing of tall feathers is deemed appropriate and/or encouraged, perhaps by other armigers, then I would probably wear a high-quality imitation Golden eagle feather.

I really don't see the latter happening, as I prefer to wear a tall feather whilst surrounded by other Macpherson armigers, my Chief, and Macpherson Chieftains - as they all tend to wear their feathers too, at our gatherings and rallies in Scotland.

Slainte,

[pugcasso]

http://promoshq.wildfireapp.com/webs...tries/53449549 You can vote once per day. So, please do so. Thank you very much for those who have voted ♥

[James Hood]

'Purchased a feathered pin at Schloss Neuschwanstein which delightfully adorns the Winter Tilley.

[MacSpadger]

The value in traditional symbolism is that it is a set of visual indicators originally set up for a broadly illiterate people, so it is in itself a very real language. To mess with that sends all sorts of inaccurate signals and destroys a living language for the sake of a few individuals' fashion sense. That to me is a very, very poor trade that impoverishes the entire planet.

Thank you for this post, Father Bill. I value it's message highly and wish it was taken up by a wide spectrum of people/posters. Traditional highland clothing is a living language that's currently in a perilous state. I am no "tartan policeman" or even a traditionalist, but jings min, some of the things I read online............

Myself, I used to wear blackcock feathers in my glengarry, but only because a large shouty man with stripes on his arm was very insistent I do so.

[Father Bill]

FEAR the stripes, mon, aye, fear them well!

Thanks for your kind words.