Scarves for Wives

[Father Bill]

This came up recently; I’ll see if I can replicate my reply.

Traditionally, a woman wears her father’s tartan until she marries, and then she wears her husband’s.

If however, Mr. Fujikami marries Miss MacOnion, he becomes a member of clan MacOnion, and while they would traditionally be Mr. & Mrs. Fujikami, they would be full members of clan MacOnion.

The clan system was generally organized to recruit warriors. Thus if you married into the clan or lived on the clan lands, or were accepted by the Clan Chief for whatever reasons suited him, you were a member of the clan.

Thus, it is generally patrilineal except where, as you trace back, there is no patrilineal clan heritage in which case, it is matrilineal... for as many generations only until there is again patrilineal lineage at which time that takes precedence.

Having said that, many outwith Scotland, and particularly in the U.S. tend to care less about any of those rules. The rest of the traditional world merely raises one eyebrow and then goes on their way rolling their eyes and minimally shaking their heads.